Automated metal pattern generation for integrated circuits

ABSTRACT

An integrated circuit fabricated by a mask set including a mask to generate a metal pattern defined by CAD software, the metal pattern generation method including: reading a binary data set, the data points in the set uniquely matched to a plurality of fixed metal tabs; and selecting a metal tab from a first set of selectable metal tabs for a first data value, or a second set of selectable metal tabs for a second data value for each of the fixed metal tabs; wherein a first set metal tab and a second set metal tab couples each said fixed metal tab to first and second voltages respectively.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a Continuation of and claims priority to and thebenefit of the U.S. application Ser. No. 12/210,212, entitled “AUTOMATEDMETAL PATTERN GENERATION FOR INTEGRATED CIRCUITS,” with filing date ofSep. 14, 2008, which is herein incorporated by reference in itsentirety.

BACKGROUND

The present invention relates to devices and software related toprogrammable logic devices (FPGA/MPGA) and application specificintegrated circuits (ASSP/ASIC).

Traditionally, integrated circuit (IC) devices such as custom,semi-custom, or application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) deviceshave been used in electronic products to reduce cost, enhanceperformance or meet space constraints. However, the design andfabrication of custom or semi-custom ICs can be time consuming andexpensive. The customization involves a lengthy design cycle during theproduct definition phase and high Non Recurring Engineering (NRE) costsduring manufacturing phase. To absorb design modifications or in theevent of finding a logic error in the custom or semi-custom IC duringfinal test phase, the design and fabrication cycles may have to berepeated. Lengthy emulation and prototyping cycles further aggravate thetime to market and NRE costs. As a result, ASICs serve only specificapplications and are custom built for high volume and low cost.

Another type of semi custom device called a Gate Array (includesPlatform ASIC and Structured ASIC) customizes modular blocks at areduced NRE cost by synthesizing the design using a software modelsimilar to the ASIC. Structured ASICs provide a larger modular blockcompared to Gate Arrays, and may or may not provide pre instituted clocknetworks to simplify the design effort. In both, a software tool has toundergo a tedious iteration between a trial placement and ensuing wire“RC” extraction for timing closure. In sub-micron process technologies,wire “RC” delays are very complex and difficult to predict. The missingsilicon level design verification Gate Arrays result in multiple spinsand lengthy design iterations, further exacerbating a quick designsolution. Most users need the iterative tweaking of designs to perfecttheir design.

In recent years there has been a move away from custom or semi-customICs toward field programmable components whose function is determinednot when the integrated circuit is fabricated, but by an end user “inthe field” prior to use. Off the shelf, generic Programmable LogicDevice (PLD) or Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) products greatlysimplify the design cycle. These products offer user-friendly softwareto fit custom logic into the device through programmability, and thecapability to tweak and optimize designs to improve silicon performance.As the wire “RC” delays are pre-characterized, the users are able toachieve complex placements and timing closures very quickly and veryaccurately. The flexibility of this programmability or alterability isexpensive in terms of silicon real estate, but reduces design cycle andupfront NRE cost to the designer. In this disclosure the terms FPGA andPLD are used interchangeably to mean programmable devices.

FPGAs (includes PLDs) offer the advantages of low non-recurringengineering costs, fast turn around (designs can be placed and routed onan FPGA in typically a few minutes to few hours), and low risk sincedesigns can be easily amended late in the product design cycle. It isonly for high volume production runs that there is a cost benefit inusing the more traditional ASIC approaches. Compared to PLD and FPGA, anASIC has hard-wired logic connections, identified during the chip designphase. ASIC has no multiple logic choices, no multiple routing choicesand no configuration memory to customize logic and routing. This is alarge chip area and cost saving for the ASIC—the FPGA silicon area maybe 10 to 40 times the ASIC area due to these programmable overheads.Smaller ASIC die sizes lead to better performance and betterreliability. A full custom ASIC also has customized logic functionswhich may require fewer gates compared to PLD and FPGA implementationsof the same logic functions. Thus, an ASIC is significantly smaller,faster, cheaper and more reliable than an equivalent gate-count FPGA.The trade-off is between time-to-market (FPGA advantage) versus low costand better reliability (ASIC advantage). The cost of Silicon real estatefor programmability provided by the FPGA compared to ASIC determines theextra cost the user has to bear for customer re-configurability of logicfunctions and routing between logic modules. Programmability includesconfiguration memory and MUX overhead in FPGAs.

The 10 to 40× silicon area disadvantage lead to significant cost andperformance disparity between the ASIC and the FPGA. A significantportion of silicon real estate overhead is consumed by the programmableinterconnects in an FPGA (including associated configuration memory).Removing routing to reduce silicon overhead makes an FPGA unusable. A 3DFPGA with better logic gate silicon density improvement over 2D FPGA hasbeen disclosed in the IDS references, especially in application Ser.Nos. 10/267,483, 10/267,484 and 10/267,511. Such techniques may reducethe ratio of FPGA to ASIC logic gate silicon area ratio to 2 to 10times. Reducing the FPGA logic area penalty improves the value of FPGAcompared to ASIC. When the Si area ratio reaches a threshold (thethreshold determined by the life-time volume needs of the device), itwould eliminate the need for ASIC designs, and the FPGA design willbecome the new standard for system design.

A complex logic design is broken down to smaller logic blocks andprogrammed into logic elements or logic blocks provided in the FPGA.Logic elements offer sequential and combinational logic designimplementations. Combinational logic has no memory and outputs reflect afunction solely of present inputs. Sequential logic is implemented byinserting memory into the logic path to store past history. Current FPGAarchitectures include transistor pairs, NAND or OR gates, multiplexers,look-up-tables (LUTs) and AND-OR structures as a basic logic element. Ina conventional FPGA, the basic logic element is labeled a macro-cell.Hereafter the terminology logic element will include logic elements,macro-cells, arithmetic logic units and any other basic logical unitused to implement a portion of a logic function. Granularity of a FPGArefers to logic content (small or large) of a basic logic element. Thecomplex logic design is broken down to fit the custom FPGA grain. Infine-grain architectures, a small basic logic element is enclosed in arouting matrix and replicated. These offer easy logic fitting at theexpense of complex routing. In course-grain architectures, many basiclogic elements are wrapped with local routing into a logic block withlarger functionality, which is then replicated. The logic blockreplication utilizes a global routing technique. Larger logic blocksmake the logic fitting difficult and the routing easier. A challenge forFPGA architectures is to provide easy logic fitting (like fine-grain)and maintain easy routing (like course-grain).

Inputs and outputs for the Logic Element, Logic Unit or Logic Block areselected from the programmable Routing Matrix. A routing wire isdedicated to each. An exemplary routing matrix containing logic elementsdescribed in Ref-1 (Seals & Whapshott) is shown in FIG. 1. In thatexample, the inputs and outputs from Logic Element 101-104 are routed to22 horizontal and 12 vertical interconnect wires with programmable viaconnections. These connections may be fuses, anti-fuses or SRAMcontrolled pass-gate transistors comprising a Connect state and aDisconnect state. One output of element 101 is shown coupled to one ofthe inputs to element 104 in darker lines: in that vertical wire #3 isused to complete the coupling. One output of element 103 is also showncoupled to one of the inputs to element 104 in darker lines: in thatvertical wire #8 is used to complete the coupling. Thus every input andevery output occupies one or more dedicated wires to complete thecoupling. Thus the number wires, wire segments, programmable connection,and Si area required for the connectivity grows rapidly with the numberof logic elements N within the fabric.

The logic element having a built in D-flip-flop used with FIG. 1 routingas described in Ref-1 is shown in FIG. 2. In that, elements 201, 202 and203 are 2:1 MUX's controlled by one input signal each. Element 204 is anOR gate while 205 is a D-Flip-Flop. Without global Preset & Clearsignals, eight inputs feed the logic block, and one output leaves thelogic block. These 9 wires are shown in FIG. 1 with programmableconnectivity. Thus 9 wires must be assigned to connect the logic elementshown in FIG. 2. All 2-input, all 3-input and some 4-input variablefunctions are realized in the logic block and latched to theD-Flip-Flop. FPGA architectures for various commercially availabledevices are discussed in Ref-1 (Seals & Whapshott) as well as Ref-2(Sharma). A comprehensive thesis on FPGA routing architecture isprovides in Ref-3 (Betz, Rose & Marquardt) and Ref-4 (Lemieux & Lewis).

Routing block wire structure defines how logic blocks are connected toeach other. Adjacent logic elements as well as die opposite corner logicelements may require connections. Wire signals are driven by outputbuffers attached to logic elements, and the drive strength does notchange on account of wire length. Longer wires may require repeaters torejuvenate the signals periodically. Buffers and repeaters consume alarge Si area and are very expensive. The wire delays becomeunpredictable as the wire lengths are randomly chosen during the LogicOptimization to best fit the design into a given FPGA. FPGA's also incurlengthy run times during timing driven optimization of partitionedlogic. As FPGA's grow bigger in die size, the number of wire segmentsand wire lengths to connect logic increase. Wire delays can dominatechip performance. Wire delays grow proportional to square of the wirelength, and inverse distance to neighboring wires. Maximum chip sizesremain constant at mask dimension of about 2 cm per side, while metalwire spacing is reduced with technology scaling. A good timingoptimization requires in depth knowledge of the specific FPGA fitter,the length of wires segments, and relevant process parameters; a skillnot found within the design house doing the fitting. In segmented wirearchitectures, expensive fixed buffers are provided to drive globalsignals on selected lines. These buffers are too few as they are tooexpensive, and only offer unidirectional data flow. Predictable timingis another challenge for FPGA's. This would enhance place and route toolcapability in FPGA's to better fit and optimize timing critical logicdesigns. More wires exacerbate the problem, while fewer wires keep theproblem tractable, reducing FPGA cost.

Prior art FPGA architectures are discussed in detail in the IDSreferences cited in this Application. These patents disclose specializedrouting blocks to connect logic elements in FPGA's and macro-cells inPLD's. In all IDS citations a fixed routing block is programmed todefine inputs and outputs for the logic blocks, while the logic blockperforms a specific logic function. Such dedicated interconnect wiresdrive the cost of FPGAs over equivalent functionality ASICs. Userspecification to program the FPGA is held in FPGA configuration memory,which is coupled to logic in the FPGA. User specification to program avolatile FPGA is also duplicated in an external memory chip—however datafrom that memory chip is retrieved and loaded to on chip volatileconfiguration memory to configure the FPGA. Thus IDS cited FPGAs incur ahuge penalty for on-chip configuration memory and MUXs that are neededfor programmability. Some further require an expensive off-chip boot ROMto hold configuration data. Thus configuration memory expense is twicefor SRAM based FPGAs.

Four methods of programming point to point connections, synonymous withprogrammable switches and programmable cross-bar points, between A and Bare shown in FIG. 3. A configuration circuit to program the connectionis not shown. All the patents listed in IDS use one or more of thesebasic connections to configure logic elements and programmableinterconnects. The user implements the decision by programming a memorybit. This kind of configuration is different from a software instructionas the memory bit is physically generating a control signal to activelyimplement the decision. In FIG. 3A, a conductive fuse link 310 connectsA to B. It is normally connected, and passage of a high current or alaser beam will blow the conductor open. In FIG. 3B, a capacitiveanti-fuse element 320 disconnects A to B. It is normally open, andpassage of a high current will pop the insulator to short the terminals.Fuse and anti-fuse are both one-time programmable due to thenon-reversible nature of the change. In FIG. 3C, a pass-gate device 330connects A to B. The gate signal S₀ determines the nature of theconnection, on or off. This is a non destructive change. The gate signalis generated by manipulating logic signals, or by configuration circuitsthat include memory. The choice of memory varies from user to user. InFIG. 3D, a floating-pass-gate device 340 connects A to B. Control gatesignal S₀ couples a portion of that to floating gate. Electrons trappedin the floating gate determines on or off state of the connection.Hot-electrons and Fowler-Nordheim tunneling are two mechanisms to injectcharge onto floating-gates. When high quality insulators encapsulate thefloating gate, trapped charge stays for over 10 years. These providenon-volatile memory. EPROM, EEPROM and Flash memory employfloating-gates and are non-volatile. Anti-fuse and SRAM basedarchitectures are widely used in commercial FPGA's, while EPROM, EEPROM,anti-fuse and fuse links are widely used in commercial PLD's. VolatileSRAM memory needs no high programming voltages, is freely available inevery logic process, is compatible with standard CMOS SRAM memory, lendsto process and voltage scaling and has become the de-facto choice formodern very large FPGA devices. Unfortunately they need an externalexpensive boot-ROM to save configuration data.

A volatile six transistor SRAM based configuration circuit is shown inFIG. 4A. The SRAM memory element can be any one of 6-transistor,5-transistor, full CMOS, R-load or TFT PMOS load based cells to name afew. Two inverters 403 and 404 connected back to back forms the memoryelement. This memory element is a latch. The latch can be full CMOS,R-load, PMOS load or any other. Power and ground terminals for theinverters are not shown in FIG. 4A. Access NMOS transistors 401 and 402,and access wires GA, GB, BL and BS provide the means to configure thememory element. Applying zero and one on BL and BS respectively, andraising GA and GB high enables writing zero into device 401 and one intodevice 402. The output S₀ delivers a logic one. Applying one and zero onBL and BS respectively, and raising GA and GB high enables writing oneinto device 401 and zero into device 402. The output S₀ delivers a logiczero. The SRAM construction may allow applying only a zero signal at BLor BS to write data into the latch. The SRAM cell may have only oneaccess transistor 401 or 402.

The SRAM latch will hold the data state as long as power is on. When thepower is turned off, the SRAM bit needs to be restored to its previousstate from an outside permanent memory (ROM). The outside memory is notcoupled to programmable logic to configure the logic, and the dataretrieval is identical to microprocessors retrieving external DRAMmemory data to store and use in local cache. In the literature forprogrammable logic, this second non-volatile memory is also calledconfiguration memory, and should not be confused with the applicant'sdefinition of configuration memory that is coupled to programmablelogic.

The SRAM configuration circuit in FIG. 4A controlling logic pass-gate asshown in FIG. 3C is illustrated in FIG. 4B. Element 450 represents theconfiguration circuit. The S₀ output directly driven by the memoryelement in FIG. 4A drives the pass-gate gate electrode. In addition toS₀ output and the latch, power, ground, data in and write enable signalsin 450 constitutes the SRAM configuration circuit. Write enablecircuitry includes GA, GB, BL, BS signals shown in FIG. 4A. An SRAMbased switch is shown in FIG. 4B, where pass-gate 410 can be a PMOS,NMOS, or CMOS transistor pair. NMOS is preferred due to its higherconduction. The gate voltage S₀ on NMOS transistor 410 gate electrodedetermines an ON or OFF connection: S₀ having a logic level onecompletes the point to point connection, while a logic level zero keepsthe nodes disconnected. That logic level is generated by a configurationcircuit 450 coupled to the gate of NMOS transistor 410. The symbol usedfor the programmable switch comprising the SRAM device and the pass-gateis shown in FIG. 4C as the cross-hatched circle 460. SRAM memory datacan be changed anytime in the operation of the device, altering anapplication and routing on the fly, thus giving rise to the concept ofreconfigurable computing in FPGA devices.

A programmable MUX utilizes a plurality of point to point switches. FIG.5 shows three different MUX based programmable logic constructions. FIG.5A shows a programmable 2:1 MUX. In the MUX, two pass-gates 511 and 512allow two inputs I₀ and I₁ to be connected to output O. A configurationcircuit 550 having two complementary output control signals S₀ and S₀′provides the programmability. When S₀=1, S₀′=0; I₀ is coupled to O. WhenS₀=0, S₀′=1; I₁ is coupled to O. With one memory element inside 550, oneinput is always coupled to the output. If two bits were provided inside550, two mutually exclusive outputs S₀ and S₁ could be generated. Thatwould allow neither I₀ nor I₁ to be coupled to O, if such a requirementexists in the logic design. FIG. 5B shows a programmable 4:1 MUXcontrolled by 2 memory elements. A similar construction when the 4inputs I₀ to I₃ are replaced by 4 memory element outputs S₀ to S₃, andthe pass-gates are controlled by two inputs I₀ & I₁ is called a 4-inputlook up table (LUT). The 4:1 MUX in FIG. 5B operate with two memoryelements 561 and 562 contained in the configuration circuit 560 (notshown). Similar to FIG. 5A, one of I₀, I₁, I₂ or I₃ is connected to Odepending on the S₀ and S₁ states. For example, when S₀=1, S₁=1, I₀ iscoupled to O. Similarly, when S₀=0 and S₁=0, I₃ is coupled to O. A 3 bitprogrammable 3:1 MUX is shown in FIG. 5C. Point D can be connected to A,B or C via pass-gates 531, 533 or 532 respectively. Memory elements 571,572 and 573 contained in a configuration circuit 570 (not shown) controlthese pass-gate input signals. Three memory elements are required toconnect D to just one, any two or all three points. In reconfigurablecomputing, data in memory elements 571, 572 and 573 can be changed onthe fly to alter connectivity between A, B, C and D as desired.

In the IDS reference citations, three dimensional concepts to constructbuilding blocks in 3D FPGAs are disclosed. In a first aspect, 3D FPGA'sreduce silicon area by positioning configuration memory above theprogrammable logic content. In a second aspect, an expensive userprogrammable RAM memory is first used to target a complex design into aprogrammable device, and when the design is frozen, the RAM is replacedby an inexpensive mask programmable ROM memory. In a third aspect, athin film transistor comprising majority carrier conduction is used toconstruct 3-dimensional configuration circuits. Thin film SRAM memoryhas better alpha particle immunity over bulk SRAM. In a fourth aspect, a3-dimensional thin-film transistor SRAM memory element is used toprogram programmable logic. In a fifth aspect MUXs are stacked overlogic and configuration memory is stacked over MUXs to significantlyreduce Silicon footprint. One or more of the disclosures, usedindividually or in conjunction with other disclosures demonstrate asignificant improvement to 3D programmable logic devices overconventional 2D programmable logic devices.

SUMMARY

This disclosure reveals construction complexities and innovationsassociated with 3D FPGA circuits. A 3D FPGA device requires a pluralityof I/O's & pads for signal wires to access the chip, a plurality ofprogrammable logic/routing elements arranged in some regular orirregular construction of a logic block, a plurality of programmablelogic blocks arranged in some array construction, one or moreintellectual property (IP) cores that is frequently used by the user tointerface with the programmable logic, a programmable interconnectmatrix that interacts with all afore mentioned components of the FPGA,and many other considerations. In typical 2D FPGA constructions, theconfiguration memory is inter-dispersed within various building blocksand coupled by metal wires to the logic elements as needed. Typicallylower level metal layers (ex. metal-1, metal-2 and metal-3) are used toconstruct local circuits, such as coupling of programmable elements toconfiguration memory cells. In standard cell ASIC's, lower level metallayers are reserved to construct the standard cells. Arrangement ofcircuit components plays a crucial role in improving logic placementefficiency and reducing cost of 3D chips. As there are no efficientsoftware tools that allow 3D active component stacking, newerconstruction techniques are needed for 3D chip constructions.

As disclosed herein, 3D programmable logic chips are constructed withefficient utilization of silicon for the user defined components (suchas programmable logic, IP, pads, etc.) coupled to an efficientinterconnect and routing fabric to arrange 3D circuit components. Suchprocedures identify appropriate vertical interconnect methods to coupleconfiguration memory to programmable logic in a repeating and easy toconstruct interconnect fabric. Furthermore 3D FPGA's require lateralinterconnects that stitch together to form longer wires, and thevertical interconnects not to block the efficiency with which this canbe done. Efficient vertical configuration is achieved with repetitivestructures that allow easy integration of complex programmable logicbuilding blocks with varying user requirements into chips comprised ofvarying logic and memory densities, and deliver families of economicaland efficient 3D programmable chips for the system design community.

In one aspect, a three dimensional programmable logic device (PLD),comprising: a programmable logic block having a plurality ofconfigurable elements positioned in the logic block in a predeterminedlayout geometry; and a first array of configuration memory cells, eachof said memory cells coupled to one or more of said configurableelements to program the logic block to a user specification, wherein thefirst array conforms substantially to the predetermined layout geometryand the first array is positioned substantially above or below the logicblock.

Implementations of the above aspect may include one or more of thefollowing. A programmable logic device may include a plurality ofprogrammable logic block arrays. A logic block may be replicated in anarray, or a plurality of complex logic blocks may be used instead of thearray. A cell may be created with one or more logic blocks andreplicated in an array to more efficiently construct a logic blockarray. A programmable logic block may further include a plurality ofprogrammable logic units and logic elements. The logic unit by itselfmight be replicated in an array to form the logic block. A logic unitmay be called a logic block, thus the logic block array may include aplurality of logic units arranged in an array. A programmable logic unitmay further include a plurality of programmable elements, such elementsincluding logic and routing elements. A memory cell may store a portionof an instruction to program a logic element. Thus a customer may usememory data to store an instruction to fully program the PLD. The logicunit may have said programmable elements mixed with non-configurablecircuit components. In one example, a programmable switch may beinter-dispersed with logic transistors in a programmable circuit. Inanother example, a programmable multiplexer circuit may beinter-dispersed with logic transistors in programmable circuits. In yetanother example, latches and flip-flops may be inter-dispersed withprogrammable look-up-table circuits and programmable MUX circuits toconstruct a programmable logic unit. A programmable interconnectstructure may connect a plurality of logic units, or logic blocks, orlogic arrays to each other, to pad structures and to IP blocks. Suchinterconnect structures complete the functionality of the integratedcircuit and form connections to input and output pads. Said interconnectstructure includes a programmable switch. Most common switch is apass-gate device. A pass-gate is an NMOS transistor, a PMOS transistoror a CMOS transistor pair that can electrically connect two points. Apass-gate is a conductivity modulating element that includes a connectstate and a disconnect state. Other methods of connecting two pointsinclude fuse links and anti-fuse capacitors. Yet other methods toconnect two points may include an electrochemical or ferroelectric orany other cell. Programming these devices include forming one of eithera conducting path or a non-conducting path.

The gate electrode signal on a pass-gate allows a programmable method ofcontrolling an on and off connection. A plurality of pass-gates isincluded in said programmable logic blocks and programmable wirestructure. The structure may include circuits consisting of CMOStransistors comprising AND, NAND, INVERT, OR, NOR, Look-Up-Table,Truth-Table, MUX, Arithmetic-Logic-Unit, Central-Processor-Unit,Programmable-Memory and Pass-Gate type logic circuits. Multiple logiccircuits may be combined into a larger logic block. Configurationcircuits are used to provide programmability. Configuration circuitshave memory elements and access circuitry to change memory data. Eachmemory element can be a transistor or a diode or a group of electronicdevices. The memory elements can be made of CMOS devices, capacitors,diodes, resistors and other electronic components. The memory elementscan be made of thin film devices such as thin film transistors (TFTs),thin-film capacitors and thin-film diodes. The memory element can beselected from the group consisting of volatile and non volatile memoryelements. The memory element can also be selected from the groupcomprising fuses, antifuses, SRAM cells, DRAM cells, optical cells,metal optional links, EPROMs, EEPROMs, flash, magnetic andferro-electric elements. Memory element can be a conductivity modulatingelement. One or more redundant memory elements can be provided forcontrolling the same circuit block. Such techniques should not beconfused with redundancy in traditional DRAM, or Flash memory devices.The memory element may generate an output signal to control pass-gatelogic. Configuration memory element may generate a signal that is usedto derive a control signal. Configuration memory element may generate adata signal that is used to define a look-up value. The control signalis coupled to a pass-gate logic element, AND array, NOR array, a MUX ora Look-Up-Table (LUT) logic. It is known to one of ordinary skill thatmemory elements in traditional memory devices do not generate controlsignals.

Logic blocks and logic units include outputs and inputs. Logic functionsperform logical operations. Logic functions manipulate input signals toprovide a required response at one or more outputs. The input signalsmay be stored in storage elements. The output signals may be stored instorage elements. The input and output signals may be synchronous orasynchronous signals. The inputs of logic functions may be received frommemory, or from input pins on the device, or from outputs of other logicblocks in the device. The outputs of logic blocks may be coupled toother inputs, or storage devices, or to output pads in the device, orused as control logic. Inputs and outputs couple to an interconnectfabric via programmable switches.

Structured cells are fabricated using a basic logic process capable ofmaking CMOS transistors. These transistors are formed on P-type, N-type,epi or SOI substrate wafer. Every Integrated Circuit is constructed on asubstrate layer. Configuration circuits, including configuration memory,constructed on same silicon substrate take up a large Silicon footprint. That adds to the cost of programmable wire structure compared toa similar functionality custom wire structure. A 3-dimensionalintegration of pass-gate and configuration circuits to connect wiresprovides a significant cost reduction in the incorporated-by-referenceapplications. The pass-gates and configuration circuits may beconstructed above one or more metal layers. Said metal layers may beused for intra and inter connection of structured cells. Theprogrammable wire circuits may be formed above the structured cellcircuits by inserting a thin-film transistor (TFT) module or alaser-fuse model, or any other vertical memory structure. Said memorymodule may be inserted at any via layer, in-between two metal layers orat the top of top metal layer of a logic process. The memory element cangenerate an output signal to control logic gates. Memory element cangenerate a signal that is used to derive a control signal.

A logic block and a logic unit include layout geometry. Within thelayout geometry, transistors are arranged efficiently to reduce thefoot-print of Silicon needed for the layout. These transistors arecoupled to each other with fixed interconnects as well as programmableinterconnect. The programmable elements in a logic unit or a logic blockmay be randomly arranged. Some programmable elements may be regularlyarranged with the layout area. Some programmable elements may be closelyspaced, while other programmable elements may be spaced far apart fromone another. A logic unit cell may repeat a plurality of times to form alogic block cell. The programmable elements may be substantiallyrandomly located within the logic unit or the logic block to constructthe respective cell with the least layout area. A memory cell may beneeded to program the programmable element. A memory cell may be coupledto a programmable element to program the programmable element. A memorycell may be coupled to a plurality of programmable elements to programsaid elements. A plurality of memory cells may program a logic block ora logic unit. A plurality of memory cells is more efficientlyconstructed when constructed as a memory cell array. A programmablelogic device may have a first layout area comprising a programmablelogic block having a plurality of configurable elements randomlydistributed. The device may have a second layout geometry comprising acontiguous array of configuration memory cells, the array constructed byreplicating a memory cell. To improve the efficiency of the layout, thefirst layout geometry may be substantially identical to the secondlayout geometry, and the second layout geometry may be positionedsubstantially over the first layout geometry. Thus an efficientlyconstructed array of memory cell is designed to program an efficientlyconstructed logic block or logic unit. Furthermore, a unit cellcomprising both logic block and memory cell array may be duplicated toconstruct larger building blocks. In the larger building blocks, thememory cells may combine to form a contiguous larger, efficientlyconstructed and positioned, array of memory cells. Thus the constructionof a larger logic unit allows efficient construction of larger logicarrays.

In a first embodiment, the logic block has a first number ofindependently programmable elements (an independent programming elementmeaning one or more programmable elements programmed by a single memorycell). The array of memory cells to program said logic block hassubstantially similar first number of memory cells. The logic block isoptimized to contain a substantially equal number of memory cells suchthat the memory cell area/geometry closely match the logic blockarea/geometry containing the programmable elements.

According to this invention, a 3D PLD may include an I/O cell having afirst I/O region with a plurality of configurable elements positionedtherein and a second I/O region; and a second array of configurationmemory cells having a plurality of configuration memory cells, each ofsaid second array memory cells coupled to one or more of saidconfigurable elements in the first I/O region to program the I/O cell toa user specification, wherein the second array and the first I/O regionconform substantially to the predetermined layout geometry and thesecond array is positioned substantially above or below the first I/Oregion.

Implementations of the above aspect may include one or more of thefollowing. A programmable logic device includes a plurality of I/Ocells, each I/O cell allowing an input or an output of PLD to couple toan external device. I/O cell may include a pad region that is bumpbonded, or wire bonded as needed. The I/O cells may be arranged alongthe perimeter, or arranged in banks, or uniformly distributed within thePLD. The I/O cell may couple to the interconnect fabric of the PLD. TheI/O cell may be programmable, the cell offering one of a plurality ofI/O standards to be selected by a user as a desired I/O feature. The I/Ocell may offer multiple voltage operating options. The I/O cell mayoffer sharing a pin amongst a plurality of inputs and outputs. The I/Ocell may offer one or more of I/O standards including LVDS, SDR, DDR,LVTTL, LVPECL, LVCMOS, PCI, PCIX, GTL, GTLP, HSTL, SSTL, BLVDS. Thus auser may configure an I/O cell to an offered feature, including but notlimited to the list shown.

An I/O cell includes layout geometry. Within the layout geometry, I/Ocircuit transistors are arranged efficiently to reduce the foot-print ofSilicon needed for the layout. The I/O circuit transistors occupy an I/Ocircuit area/geometry. I/O cell includes a metal pad, the pad occupyinga pad geometry or a pad region. The pad geometry may be adjacent to I/Ocircuit geometry. The I/O circuit geometry may include a first region offixed functional circuits and a second region of programmable circuits.The second region may be adjacent to programmable logic geometry, thus alarger programmable geometry can be formed. The I/O transistors arecoupled to each other with fixed interconnects as well as programmableinterconnects. The programmable elements in an I/O cell may be locatedin only the I/O circuit geometry, more preferably in said second region,randomly arranged to improve layout efficiency. Some programmableelements may be regularly arranged with the layout geometry. Someprogrammable elements may be closely spaced, while other programmableelements may be spaced far apart from one another. An I/O cell mayrepeat a plurality of times to form an I/O cell group. The I/O circuitgeometries may group to form contiguous region of circuit elements,including programmable elements which may form a repetitive structure ofa substantially randomly located I/O circuit layout geometry. A memorycell may be needed to program the programmable element. A memory cellmay be coupled to a programmable element to program the programmableelement. A memory cell may be coupled to a plurality of programmableelements to program said elements. A plurality of memory cells mayprogram an I/O circuit. A plurality of memory cells is more efficientlyconstructed when constructed as a memory cell array. An I/O cell mayhave a first layout geometry comprising an I/O circuit having aplurality of configurable elements randomly distributed. The device mayhave a second layout geometry comprising a contiguous array ofconfiguration memory cells, the array constructed by replicating amemory cell. To improve the efficiency of the layout, the first layoutgeometry may be substantially identical to the second layout geometry,and the second layout geometry may be positioned substantially above thefirst layout geometry. Thus an efficiently constructed array of memorycells is designed to program an efficiently constructed I/O cell.Furthermore, the I/O cell, comprising both I/O pad and I/O circuit, maybe duplicated to construct larger I/O blocks. In the larger buildingblocks, the memory cells may combine to form a contiguous larger,efficiently constructed and positioned, array of memory cells. Thus theconstruction of an I/O cell with overlay of memory cells allowsefficient construction of larger I/O groups.

Furthermore the array of memory cells required to program a programmablelogic block array, and the array of memory cells to program the I/O cellgroup may further combine to form a contiguous array of efficientlyconstructed and positioned memory cells. In one embodiment, all of theprogrammable elements may be located in substantially rectangular layoutgeometry, and the contiguous memory cell array may have an identicalgeometry. The total number of memory cells may match the total number ofindependently programmed elements such that the construction isefficient.

According to this invention, a PLD may include a programmableintellectual property (IP) block having a first IP region with aplurality of configurable elements positioned within the region and asecond IP region; and a third array of configuration memory cells havinga configuration memory cells and coupled to one or more of saidconfigurable elements in the first IP region, a plurality of memorycells in the third array coupled to the plurality of configurableelements in IP block to program the IP block to a user specification,wherein the third array and the first IP region conform to thepredetermined layout geometry and the third array is positionedsubstantially above or below the first IP region.

Implementations of the above aspect may include one or more of thefollowing. A programmable logic device includes a plurality of IPblocks, each IP block allowing a user to implement a specific function.A plurality of inputs and outputs couple the IP block to theinterconnect fabric. The IP block may be arranged along the perimeter,or arranged in banks, or uniformly distributed within the PLD. The IPblock may be programmable, the block offering one of a plurality ofaltering functions to be selected by a user as a desired feature. The IPblock may offer multiple power/performance tradeoffs. The IP block maybe a memory block with data width and depth alterability. The IP blockmay a Multiply-Accumulate unit with varied DSP capability. The IP blockmay be a CPU block with varied instruction-set capability. The IP blockmay be PLL or DLL blocks offering programmability. Thus a user mayconfigure an IP block to one of the offered features, including but notlimited to the listed IP above.

An IP block includes layout geometry. Within the layout geometry, IPcircuit transistors are arranged efficiently to reduce the foot-print ofsilicon needed for the layout. The IP circuit transistors occupy a fixedIP circuit geometry and one or more programmable IP circuit geometries.In a memory IP block, the fixed IP geometry may contain the(single-port, dual-port etc.) memory cells, while the programmable IPregion may contain the programmable elements to configure data width &depth, build FIFOs, as well as couple the IP block to interconnectfabric. The programmable circuit region may be adjacent to programmablelogic geometry, thus a larger programmable geometry can be formed. TheIP transistors are coupled to each other with fixed interconnects aswell as programmable interconnect. The programmable elements in an IPblock may be located in only the programmable circuit area, wherein theprogrammable elements are randomly arranged to improve layoutefficiency. Some programmable elements may be regularly arranged withthe layout geometry. Some programmable elements may be closely spaced,while other programmable elements may be spaced far apart from oneanother. An IP block may repeat a plurality of times to form an IP blockgroup. The IP circuit areas may group to form contiguous region ofcircuit elements, including programmable elements which may form arepetitive structure of a substantially randomly located IP programmableelement layout geometry. A memory cell may be needed to program theprogrammable element. A memory cell may be coupled to a programmableelement to program the programmable element. A memory cell may becoupled to a plurality of programmable elements to program saidelements. A plurality of memory cells may program an IP block. Aplurality of memory cells is more efficiently constructed whenconstructed as a memory cell array. An IP block may have a first layoutgeometry comprising an IP circuit having a plurality of configurableelements randomly distributed. The device may have a second layoutgeometry comprising a contiguous array of configuration memory cells,the array constructed by replicating a memory cell. To improve theefficiency of the layout, the first layout area/geometry may besubstantially identical to the second layout area/geometry, and thesecond layout geometry may be positioned substantially above the firstlayout geometry. Thus an efficiently constructed array of memory cellsis designed to program an efficiently constructed IP block. Furthermore,the IP block, comprising both non-programmable and programmablecircuits, may be duplicated to construct larger IP blocks. In the largerbuilding blocks, the configuration memory cells may combine to form acontiguous larger, efficiently constructed and positioned, array ofmemory cells. The configuration memory cells are positioned above theprogrammable circuit region of the IP blocks, occupying the samegeometry. Thus the construction of an IP block with overlay of memorycells allows efficient construction of larger IP blocks.

In yet another aspect, a three dimensional programmable logic device(PLD), comprising: a plurality of I/O cells, each I/O cell comprising: afixed circuit region; and a programmable circuit region having aplurality of programmable elements to configure the I/O cell; and one ormore intellectual property (IP) cores, each IP core comprising: a fixedcircuit region; and a programmable circuit region having a plurality ofprogrammable elements to configure the IP core; and a programmable logicblock array region comprising: a plurality of substantially identicalprogrammable logic blocks replicated to form the array, each said logicblock further comprising a plurality of programmable elements; and aprogrammable region comprising positioned programmable elements of saidprogrammable logic block array region, the one or more of IP coreprogrammable circuit regions and the one or more of I/O cellprogrammable circuit regions; and a configuration memory arraycomprising configuration memory cells coupled to one or more of saidprogrammable elements in the programmable region, the memory arrayprogramming the programmable region, wherein: the memory array ispositioned substantially above or below the programmable region; and thememory array and programmable region layout geometries are substantiallyidentical.

In yet another aspect, a three dimensional programmable logic device(PLD), comprising: a plurality of distributed programmable elementslocated in a substrate region; and a contiguous array of configurationmemory cells, a plurality of said memory cells coupled to the pluralityof programmable elements to configure the programmable elements,wherein: the memory array is positioned substantially above or below thesubstrate region; and the memory array and the substrate region layoutgeometries are substantially similar. The said PLD further includes: acontiguous array of metal cells, each metal cell having theconfiguration memory cell dimensions and a metal stub coupled to theconfiguration memory cell and to one or more of said programmableelements. Furthermore, the metal cell array is positioned below thememory cell array and above the programmable elements. Furthermore, twoor more metal cells further includes a metal line adjacent to the metalstub extending from one end of the cell to the opposite end of the cell,wherein two or more adjacent metal cells form a continuous metal line.

In yet another aspect, a vertically configured programmable logic device(PLD), includes: a unit cell wherein the unit cell geometry includes afirst dimension in a first direction and a second dimension in a seconddirection orthogonal to said first direction; and an array ofconfiguration memory cells, the array constructed by placing a memorycell within the unit cell geometry and replicating the unit cell to formthe memory array; and a plurality of programmable elements positioned ina geometry substantially similar to the geometry of the configurationmemory cell array; and an array of first metal cells, the arrayconstructed by replicating a first metal cell of said unit celldimensions in an array, the first metal cell further comprising: a firstregion comprised of one or more parallel metal bus lines, the bus lineextending between opposite cell boundaries in the first or seconddirection to form a global bus wire; and a second region comprised of ametal stub coupled to the configuration memory cell positioned above thefirst metal stub and one or more of said programmable elementspositioned below the first metal stub. Furthermore, the 3D PLD furtherincludes: an array of second metal cells, the array constructed byreplicating a second metal cell of said unit cell dimensions in anarray, the second metal cell further comprising: a first regioncomprised of two or more parallel metal lines, the metal line extendingbetween opposite cell boundaries in the first or second direction toform global routing wires; and a second region comprised of metal stubsand metal lines to facilitate vertical routing of configuration memorycells and signals.

The advantages of the above embodiments may be one or more of thefollowing. The embodiments provide grouping of programmable elements andmetal interconnect for the purpose of coupling to vertically positionedconfiguration elements during construction of 3D FPGA. The innovationalso pertains to creating unit cells within the layout geometries tofacilitate the 3D construction. The programmable blocks are arrangedsuch that all of the programmable elements in the array combine to forma larger region of programmable elements. The IP blocks are arrangedadjacent to logic blocks such that the programmable elements combineinto yet a larger programmable region. The I/O cells are arranged suchthat the programmable elements in the I/O cells further add to thecommon programmable region, thereby providing even a larger foot-printof programmable elements. These conglomerated programmable regions canbe built to have exact (or nearly exact) dimensions of an array of unitcells. The array may include M rows and N columns of unit cells, where Mand N are integers greater than one. Preferably M and N are integersgreater than 100, and more preferably M and N are integers greater than1000. The conglomerated region of programmable elements is now coupledto one large array of vertically positioned configuration memory cells.The coupling is further facilitated by metal stubs in an intermediatemetal layer. Metal routing, power and ground are distributed in the samemetal layers. Thus the concept of a unit metal cell is important toconstruct these three dimensional interconnects. Each memory cell outputcouples to a metal stub. Each metal stub couples to one or moreprogrammable elements. The vertical interconnect (meaning theZ-direction) cannot break the horizontal interconnect (meaning X and Ydirections). Metal buses are positioned in between the metal stubs forglobal interconnects and busses. In the first and second metal layers,metal lines run in X or Y direction (orthogonal to said X direction).There may be a plurality of first metal layers and second metal layersas stated. Global and local interconnect wires are also positioned intometal cells. A first region of the metal cell includes global metalwires for interconnects, and a second region of the metal cell includeslocal interconnects for the vertical configuration. The memory cell ismore efficiently constructed when a single cell array is used toconfigure a conglomerated programmable element region, rather thandisjoint and inefficiently crafted random memory cells or smaller cellarrays are used.

Thus the current teachings offer a new approach to building 3Dprogrammable devices. These devices include programmable elementsconstructed in a substrate layer or plane. Programmable elements withinmultiple circuit blocks are arranged and grouped such that on thesubstrate layer, the programmable elements form large clusters. Eachcluster is configured by a configuration memory cell array positionedvertically above the programmable elements. A memory cell in the arrayis coupled to one or more programmable elements. Thus a plurality ofprogrammable element clusters is programmed by a plurality ofconfiguration memory cell arrays. Such a device, from a userperspective, offers the capability of vertically configuring the FPGA tothe user's specification. Once the user is satisfied with theperformance and functionality, the user is able to easily change theconfiguration memory cell from an expensive 3D RAM element to aninexpensive ROM element to freeze the design in an ASIC form. Such achange requires no design activity, saving the designer considerable NREcosts and time. It further saves the expensive boot-ROM in the systemboard. An easy turnkey customization of an ASIC from an original smallercheaper and faster PLD or FPGA would greatly enhance time to market,performance, and product reliability.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows an exemplary interconnect structure utilizing a logicelement.

FIG. 2 shows an exemplary logic element.

FIG. 3A shows an exemplary fuse link point to point connection.

FIG. 3B shows an exemplary anti-fuse point to point connection.

FIG. 3C shows an exemplary pass-gate point to point connection.

FIG. 3D shows an exemplary floating-pass-gate point to point connection.

FIG. 4A shows an exemplary configuration circuit for a 6 T SRAM element.

FIG. 4B shows an exemplary programmable pass-gate switch with SRAMmemory control.

FIG. 4C shows the symbol used for switch in FIG. 4B.

FIG. 5A shows an exemplary 2:1 MUX controlled by one memory bit.

FIG. 5B shows an exemplary 4:1 MUX controlled by 2 memory bits.

FIG. 5C shows an exemplary 3:1 MUX controlled by 3 memory bits.

FIG. 6A shows a first embodiment of a 3D programmable logic device.

FIG. 6B shows a second embodiment of a 3D programmable logic device.

FIG. 6C shows the top-view of FIG. 6A with the top memory layer removed.

FIG. 7A shows a top view of a 2D FPGA stripped down to poly layer fromthe top.

FIG. 7B shows a programmable logic block according to current invention.

FIG. 7C shows a configuration memory array according to currentinvention.

FIG. 7D shows a memory cell used in the memory array shown in FIG. 7C.

FIG. 8A shows a top metal layer according to the current invention.

FIG. 8B shows a metal layer for CAD generated patterns according to thecurrent invention.

FIG. 9A shows the cross-sectional view of top metal and RAMconfiguration in 3D FPGA.

FIG. 9B shows the cross-sectional view of top metal and ROMconfiguration in 3D FPGA.

FIG. 10A shows a 3D view of substrate circuits, intermediate metallayers & top configuration memory.

FIG. 10B shows a unit cell replicated to construct FIG. 10A.

FIG. 11A shows an IP block positioned between two programmable logicblocks.

FIG. 11B shows a configuration memory array to program programmableelements in FIG. 11A.

FIG. 11C shows a 3D view of FIGS. 11A & 11B arranged one above theother.

FIG. 12A shows a plurality of IP blocks positioned with a plurality ofprogrammable logic blocks.

FIG. 12B shows the configuration memory arrays constructed to programFIG. 12A.

FIG. 12C shows the 3D arrangement of FIGS. 12A & 12B.

FIG. 13A shows a 3D FPGA/PLD wherein logic is programmed by verticalmemory.

FIG. 13B shows an enlarged view of a portion of FIG. 13A.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following detailed description of the invention, reference ismade to the accompanying drawings which form a part hereof, and in whichis shown, by way of illustration, specific embodiments in which theinvention may be practiced. These embodiments are described insufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice theinvention. Other embodiments may be utilized and structural, logical,and electrical changes may be made without departing from the scope ofthe present invention.

Definitions: The terms “wafer” and “substrate” used in the followingdescription include any structure having an exposed surface with whichto form the integrated circuit (IC) structure of the invention. The termsubstrate is understood to include semiconductor wafers. The termsubstrate is also used to refer to semiconductor structures duringprocessing, and may include other layers that have been fabricatedthereupon. Both wafer and substrate include doped and undopedsemiconductors, epitaxial semiconductor layers supported by a basesemiconductor or insulator, SOI material as well as other semiconductorstructures well known to one skilled in the art. The term “conductor” isunderstood to include semiconductors, and the term “insulator” isdefined to include any material that is less electrically conductivethan the materials referred to as conductors. Thus every IC includes asubstrate.

The term “module layer” includes a structure that is fabricated using aseries of predetermined process steps. The boundary of the structure isdefined by a first process step, one or more intermediate process steps,and a final process step. The resulting structure is formed on asubstrate. A cross-section of a semiconductor device may be used toidentify module layer boundaries. It is understood that some processingsteps such as resist patterning and cleans do not leave structuralimprints to a module layer. It is further understood that someprocessing steps such deposition and etching leave structural imprintsin a module layer. Thus a module layer includes processing steps thatmay or may not make a structural imprint.

The term “pass-gate” and “switch” refers to a structure that can pass asignal when on, and block signal passage when off. A pass-gate connectstwo points when on, and disconnects two points when off. A pass-gatecouples two points when on, and decouples two points when off. Apass-gate can be a floating-gate transistor, an NMOS transistor, a PMOStransistor or a CMOS transistor pair. The gate electrode of transistorsdetermines the state of the connection. A CMOS pass-gate requirescomplementary signals coupled to NMOS and PMOS gate electrodes. Acontrol logic signal is connected to gate electrode of a transistor forprogrammable logic. A pass-gate can be a conductivity modulatingelement. The conductivity may be made to change between a sufficientlyconductive state and a sufficiently nonconductive state by aconfiguration means. The configurable element may comprise a chemical,magnetic, electrical, optical, and ferroelectric or any other propertythat allows the element to change its conductivity between said twostates.

The term “buffer” includes a structure that receives a weak incomingsignal and transmits a strong output signal. Buffers provide high drivecurrent to maintain signal integrity. Buffer includes repeaters thatrejuvenate signal integrity in long wires. Buffer further includes asingle inverter, and a series of connected inverters wherein eachinverter in the series is sized larger to provide a higher drivecurrent.

The term “bridge” includes a structure that manages routing within a setor a cluster of wires. Signals arriving at the bridge on a wire may betransmitted to one or more other wires in that bridge. A bridge includessimple transmission, buffered transmission, uni-directional ormulti-directional routing on the wire cluster. A bridge includes switchblocks, MUXs & wires.

The term “configuration circuit” includes one or more configurableelements and connections that can be programmed for controlling one ormore circuit blocks in accordance with a predetermined user-desiredfunctionality. The configuration circuit includes the memory element andthe access circuitry, herewith called memory circuitry, to modify saidmemory element. A memory element in the configuration circuit is coupledto a programmable circuit block to configure the circuit block. Thus aconfiguration circuit is different from traditional circuits in memorydevices. Configuration circuit does not include the logic pass-gatecontrolled by said memory element. In one embodiment, the configurationcircuit includes a plurality of memory elements to store instructions toconfigure an FPGA. In another embodiment, the configuration circuitincludes a first selectable configuration where a plurality of memoryelements is formed to store instructions to control one or more circuitblocks. The configuration circuit includes a second selectableconfiguration with a predetermined conductive pattern formed in lieu ofthe memory circuit to control substantially the same circuit blocks. Thememory circuit includes elements such as diode, transistor, resistor,capacitor, metal link, among others. The memory circuit also includesthin film elements. In yet another embodiment, the configuration circuitincludes a predetermined conductive pattern comprising one or more ofvia, resistor, capacitor or other suitable ROM circuits in lieu of RAMcircuits to control circuit blocks. Configuration circuit should not beconfused with memory circuits in memory devices.

The term “time-multiplexing” includes the ability to differentiate avalue in time domain. The value may be a voltage, a signal or anyelectrical property in an IC. A plurality of time intervals make a validtime period. Inside the time period, a value includes a plurality ofvalid states: each state attributed to each time interval within theperiod. Thus time-multiplexing provides a means to identify a pluralityof valid values within a time period.

The term “geometry” as used in this application is defined as a shape ofa specific structure or a circuit. Geometry includes an area and aboundary. Thus circuit geometry refers to the shape or layout foot-printof the circuit elements of the circuit. In a Cartesian coordinatesystem, circuit geometries may take triangular, square, rectangular, T,L, or any other shape. A rectangular geometry is characterized by afirst dimension in a first direction and a second dimension in a seconddirection orthogonal to first direction. Circuit geometry includes thedimensions of the circuit layout foot-print on a substrate layer, thearea and the boundary.

The term “horizontal” as used in this application is defined as a planeparallel to the conventional plane or surface of a wafer or substrate,regardless of the orientation of the wafer or substrate. The term“vertical” refers to a direction perpendicular to the horizontaldirection as defined above. Prepositions, such as “on”, “side”,“higher”, “lower”, “over” and “under” are defined with respect to theconventional plane or surface being on the top surface of the wafer orsubstrate, regardless of the orientation of the wafer or substrate. Thefollowing detailed description is, therefore, not to be taken in alimiting sense.

A three dimensional point to point connection can be made by utilizingprogrammable pass-gate logic as shown in FIG. 3C, however the memoryelement that generates the control signal S₀ is located substantiallyabove or below the pass-gate logic element rather than adjacent to thepass-gate. A plurality of pass-gates may be configured by a plurality ofvertically coupled memory elements. The vertical configuration may beachieved with thin-film-transistor (TFT) technology, or any othersuitable technology. Regardless of the vertical position of the memoryelement, a new vertical interconnection scheme that navigates throughhorizontal interconnects is required to couple the plurality of verticalmemory elements to the plurality of programmable elements such aspass-gate 330. Multiple inputs (node A) can be coupled to multipleoutputs (node B) with the plurality of pass-gate logic elements. In a 3Dconstruction of the switch in FIG. 4B, the entire configuration circuit,including the memory element may be positioned above the pass-gate. Inanother embodiment, only the SRAM latch may be positioned above thepass-gate 410, while the decoding transistors (such as 401, 402 in FIG.4A) may be positioned along side with transistor 410 in FIG. 4B. As thegate electrode of pass-gate 410 has no current leakage path by design(i.e. it is a high impedance node) only a very small current level isrequired to drive the gate electrode to an ON or OFF state. Theconfiguration circuit (450 in FIG. 4B) needs to generate two outputs,logic zero and logic one, to program NMOS (or PMOS) pass-gate in theconnection. 3D configuration circuit 450 contains a memory element. MostCMOS SRAM memory delivers logic zero or logic one outputs. This 3Dmemory element can be configured by the user to select the polarity ofS₀, thereby selecting the status of the connection. The memory elementcan be volatile or non-volatile. In volatile memory, it could beconstructed with one or more DRAM, SRAM, Optical or any other type of amemory element that can output a valid signal S₀. In non-volatile memoryit could be fuse, anti-fuse, EPROM, EEPROM, Flash, Ferro-Electric,Magnetic or any other kind of memory device that can output a validsignal S₀. The signal S₀ can be a direct output of a memory element, ora derived output from the configuration circuitry. An inverter can beused to restore S₀ signal level to full rail to rail voltage levels. TheSRAM in configuration circuit 450 can be operated at an elevated Vcclevel to output an elevated S₀ voltage level. This is especiallyfeasible when the SRAM is built in a separate TFT module. Otherconfiguration circuits to generate valid S₀ signals are easily derivedby those familiar in the art.

TFT transistors, switching devices and latches SRAM cells are describedin incorporated-by-reference application Ser. No. 10/979,024 filed onNov. 2, 2004, application Ser. No. 10/413,809 (now U.S. Pat. No.6,855,988) filed on Apr. 14, 2003 and application Ser. No. 10/413,810(now U.S. Pat. No. 6,828,689) filed on Apr. 14, 2003. They show meansand methods to construct 3D transistors and storage devices. In apreferred embodiment, the configuration circuit is built on thin-filmsemiconductor layers located vertically above the logic circuits. TheSRAM memory element, a thin-film transistor (TFT) CMOS latch as shown inFIG. 4A, includes two lower performance back to back inverters formed ontwo semiconductor thin film layers, substantially different from a firstsemiconductor single crystal substrate layer and a gate poly layer usedfor logic transistor construction. This latch is stacked above the logiccircuits for slow memory applications with no penalty on Silicon areaand cost. This latch is adapted to receive power and ground voltages inaddition to configuration signals. The two programming accesstransistors for the TFT latch are also formed on thin-film layers. Thusin FIG. 4B, all six configuration transistors shown in 450 areconstructed in TFT layers, vertically above the pass transistor 410.Transistor 410 is in the conducting path of the connection and needs tobe a high performance single crystal Silicon transistor. This verticalintegration makes it economically feasible to add an SRAM basedconfiguration circuit at a very small cost overhead to create aprogrammable solution. Such vertical integration can be extended to allother memory elements that can be vertically integrated above logiccircuits.

New 3-dimensional programmable logic devices utilizing thin-filmtransistor configurable circuits are disclosed inincorporated-by-reference application Ser. No. 10/267,483, applicationSer. No. 10/267,484 (now abandoned) and application Ser. No. 10/267,511(now U.S. Pat. No. 6,747,478). The disclosures describe 3D programmabledevices and programmable to application specific convertible devices.The 3D PLD is fabricated with a programmable memory module, wherein thememory module is positioned above the logic module. The ASIC isfabricated with a conductive pattern in lieu of the memory module insaid 3D PLD. Both memory module and conductive pattern provide identicalcontrol of logic circuits, preserving the logic functionality mapped toeither device. For each set of memory bit patterns, there is a uniqueconductive pattern to achieve the same logic functionality. The verticalintegration of the configuration circuit leads to a significant costreduction for the PLD, and the elimination of TFT memory for the ASICallows an additional cost reduction for the user. The chip constructionwith such vertical memory integration is described next. However, theseteachings do not describe how the programmable elements are arranged inthe logic module, how the memory elements are arranged in the memorymodule, and how the modules are interconnected. A significant innovationof FPGAs come from the interconnect fabric that stitch programmable andnon-programmable elements together into a timing predictable softwareenvironment easily usable to a user. The current disclosure describeshow such 3D PLDs and 3D FPGAs are constructed.

FIG. 6A shows a top down view of a first embodiment of a 3-dimensionalFPGA (or PLD) according to a first embodiment of the invention. Itincludes a semiconductor chip (or Integrated Circuit, or IC) region 601,said region obtained by dicing a fully processed semiconductor waferthrough methods and techniques know to one familiar in the art. Chipregion 601 has a boundary, and this boundary has a die-seal region (notshown) to improve reliability of the chip as known to those skilled inthe art. The chip region has a plurality of pad regions such as padregions 602 fully enclosed by the die-seal boundary. These pad regions602 may be aligned along the perimeter as shown. The pad regions 602 maybe staggered along the perimeter, or arranged in columns, rows, or inany other fashion that is known in the art. The chip 601 furtherincludes one or more 3-dimensional circuit blocks such as blocks 603. Ina preferred embodiment, circuit block 603 includes configuration circuitblocks, said blocks arranged in an array as shown in FIG. 6A. The arraymay comprise of M rows and N columns, where M and N are integers greaterthan or equal to one. A circuit block 603 may be constructed on TFTlayers positioned above interconnect metal layers of the FPGA. Thecircuit block 603 may be constructed on TFT layers sandwiched betweeninterconnect metal layers of the FPGA, said interconnect facilitatingcircuit connections of FPGA circuits. The circuit block 603 may compriseone or more metal layers to construct configuration circuits. A firstblock of 3D configuration circuits 603 is separated from a second blockof configuration circuits by a substantial space in between the twoblocks. Such spaces may comprise wide metal bus lines such as 604 and605. These wide metal lines may further comprise power and groundvoltages required to power the chip. The spaces may further containclock and other metal signal lines required by the FPGA. The3-dimensional block is constructed not to cover the pad regions 602 inFIG. 6A to facilitate external wire bonding or flip chip bonding or anyother types of bonding to the pads. Circuit blocks 603 hide featuresunderneath the blocks in the top view in FIG. 6A.

In a second preferred embodiment, shown in FIG. 6B, a pad 602 may befurther positioned above a configuration circuit block 603 to facilitatebump-bonding of the pads 602. These pads 602 may be further coupled toI/O structures via re-distribution metal layers as known to one familiarin the art. The current invention is not limited in scope to theillustrative examples of pad constructions as shown, and those skilledin the art will recognize other methods of constructing pads 603.

FIG. 6C provides a top-view of FIG. 6A when the fabrication layerscontaining circuit blocks 603 (as well as any metal above the circuitlayer) are stripped from the chip. Removal of circuit blocks 603 allowvisibility of blocks underneath otherwise hidden by the blocks. In apreferred 3D chip construction, it further reveals other metal linessuch as 606 and 607 which act as interconnect to underlying circuits. Itreveals intellectual property (IP) cores/IP circuit blocks such as 610,programmable logic block arrays such as 608 and programmable routingregions such as 609. In the shown preferred arrangement, an IP block 610is positioned between a first and second logic block array 608. In FIG.6C, IP blocks are shown positioned along horizontal and verticalboundaries of logic block arrays. In other arrangements such IP blocksmay be positioned along only horizontal or along only verticalboundaries. In yet other arrangements, a plurality of IP blocks may begrouped into a larger block that is intermixed with a programmable logicarray block such as 608. In one embodiment, the grouped IP block mayhave a substantially similar area to the programmable logic block array.Thus the concepts described in constructing the logic blocks of a 3DFPGA should not be construed in a limiting sense just to theillustrative diagrams shown.

FIG. 7A is shown to illustrate the prior-art in arranging programmableelements of conventional 2D FPGA devices. FIG. 7A is a top view of abest-in-art Virtex FPGA device commercialized by Xilinx, Inc. The metallayers and isolation oxide layers are removed top-down in FIG. 7A suchthat transistor construction is visible. Thus gate poly, active Siregion boundary and contact imprints are seen in the photo. In FIG. 7A,it is seen that SRAM cells (such as 707) are arranged in row 704 andSRAM outputs are coupled to programmable elements. Some outputs arecoupled in polysilicon (poly) as can be seen FIG. 7A, while otheroutputs are coupled by metal that has been removed and cannot be seen.In row 704, two SRAM cells 707 a and 707 b are arranged back-to-back,and the pair is duplicated to form the row of memory cells. Transistorsin rows 701, 703 and 705 form buffers, each buffer is coupled to signalinputs and/or outputs by programmable circuits. Rows 702 and 706 showprogrammable multiplexer (MUX) circuits, each gate poly region of a MUXcoupled to an output of an SRAM cell (by poly as seen or by metal whichwas removed and cannot be seen). Programmable elements within FIG. 7A(such as the gate poly geometries in MUXs in rows 702 & 705) are seenrandomly located to achieve layout area efficiency. Other rows of SRAMcells, similar to row 704, are located below the buffer row 701 in thisdevice construction. It should be noted that from a memory bit densityview point, the SRAM cell density within a columnar region must matchthe independently programmed elements within said region localized toabove and below the memory row. In FIG. 7A, each SRAM cell has an output(metal not shown) and the output is coupled to one or more programmableelements. Thus the programmable elements in the “state of the prior art”2D FPGA are: (i) inter-mixed with SRAM cells, (ii) arranged in a rowfashion to efficiently couple logic to SRAM cells, (iii) has matchingdensity of programmable and SRAM elements in column stripes orthogonalto memory rows, (iv) coupled to outputs of SRAM cells.

The best memory area efficiency is achieved when memory cells arearranged in larger blocks, and not when placed individually or inpair-fashion. Such an efficient memory block cannot be used in 2D-FPGAas each memory cell must be coupled to one or more programmableelements. A memory block (deeper than a few bits in depth) does not haveadequate space on top of the array to construct metal interconnects thatmust couple each memory cell output to one or more neighboringprogrammable elements. According to a current preferred embodiment, thelogic blocks of 3D FPGA is constructed without SRAM cells in the siliconsubstrate surface. A first embodiment of such an arrangement of aprogrammable logic cell is shown in FIG. 7B. Alternatively, FIG. 7B maybe called a logic block, a logic unit, a unit cell, a basic logicelement or by any other name. It is capable of providing a complexlogical manipulation of a plurality of inputs. The cell includes aplurality of programmable circuits such as 711-717, each circuitcomprising a plurality of randomly positioned programmable elements (orprogrammable input nodes to which the control signal must couple). Thecell may include a first dimension in a first direction and a seconddimension in a second direction orthogonal to said first direction. In arectangular Cartesian coordinate system the cell may include arectangular geometry. In a circular coordinate system, the cell mayinclude a circular geometry having a characteristic radius. The cell mayhave a square geometry, or any other geometry. Metal interconnects mayreside above the cell geometry. A first plurality of metal interconnectsmay be used as local interconnects. Local interconnects may couplecircuit elements within the cell to provide coupling of adjacent nodes.A second plurality of interconnects may be used as global interconnects.Global interconnects may provide circuit elements in a first unit cellto couple to circuit elements in a second unit cell. One or moreinterconnects may be programmable. One or more interconnects may befixed, and not programmable.

The cell is FIG. 7B includes programmable logic elements in programmablecircuit 711. The programmable logic elements may be in a multiplexer(MUX) circuit, a look-up-table (LUT) circuit, an arithmetic-logic-unit(ALU) circuit, an AND/OR logic circuit, or any other logic element usedin programmable logic devices. In this discussion, a LUT circuit is usedfor illustrative purposes to describe use of logic elements in theprogrammable unit cell without limiting the scope of the invention toLUT logic. User configurable data for LUT 711 is held in configurationmemory cells located over the layout area shown in FIG. 7B. In otherembodiments, it may be beneficial for SRAM cells that hold LUT look-upvalues to reside on the Si substrate with the LUT geometry, adjacent tocircuit block 711. A 2-input LUT structure may include 2² SRAM cells tohold configuration data while a 4-input LUT circuit may require 2⁴ SRAMcells to hold data. In enclosed-by-referenced citations, divisible LUTstructures with more than 2^(N) configuration bits (for N-input LUTs) toefficiently pack logic are disclosed. Thus, LUT 711 may be apartition-able/divisible LUT circuit. It may be a 6-input, 8-input, or ahigher-input LUT circuit chosen in the architecture that best optimizesthe logic cell. One or more LUT structures may be positioned in a logiccell. A plurality of configuration memory cells, including 3D SRAM asthe configuration memory cell, hold data to program the look-up-valuesof the LUT circuit. Thus an output of a configuration memory bit must becoupled as a data input (also termed LUT value input) to a LUT circuit711. Such an input is randomly positioned within the LUT layout areashown in 711. The output of a vertically positioned memory cell may bebuffered prior to coupling it as a LUT value input to LUT circuit. A LUTcircuit may be programmed to construct a logic function by changing DATAstored in configuration memory. A plurality of LUT circuits may becombined to construct larger (higher input) logic functions. A LUTcircuit requires one or more primary inputs received in true andcompliment signal levels, wherein the LUT circuit outputs a logicfunction of said inputs at one or more outputs. Such inputs and outputsmay be coupled to a plurality of interconnects by programmable means.

A programmable logic cell in FIG. 7B may include a programmable inputMUX such as 712, 715 and 716. The input MUX may be constructed a singlestage or multiple stage MUXs. A first level of MUXs may provide aprogrammable coupling of a plurality of interconnects to a logic cellinput. A second stage of MUXs may provide a programmable coupling of aplurality of said logic cell inputs to couple to a LUT input. Thus theremay be a complex hierarchy of programmable selections for a given wireto couple as an input to a LUT logic circuit. The programmability isstored in configuration memory, located above the geometry of FIG. 7B.The programmable MUX is configured by an output of a configurationmemory cell. In a preferred embodiment, the memory cell is a TFT SRAMmemory cell. In a preferred embodiment, the memory cell may include avoltage divider circuit to couple selectable voltage levels differentfrom TFT SRAM operating voltage levels. Thus a plurality of SRAM memorycells generate a plurality of outputs, each output coupled to one ormore MUX transistor gates to program the input MUXs 712, 715 and 716.The programmable elements are arranged randomly within the logic cell.The input MUXs may be arranged in a specific configuration to maximizethe connectivity of inputs to interconnect wires above the unit cell. Ina preferred embodiment a first level of MUXs may be located around theperimeter of a logic cell. In a preferred embodiment a second level ofMUXs may be grouped near the center of a logic cell. A MUX element is aswitch. It provides a connect state and a disconnect state. In a connectstate, the MUX couples a first node to a second node. In a disconnectstate, the MUX decouples a first node from a second node. Thusreasonable electrical coupling and decoupling is required to separate aconnect state from a disconnect state. In an FPGA, the memory output isrequired to provide this distinction, such a distinction not typicallyrequired by memory cells in memory applications.

A programmable logic cell in FIG. 7B may include a programmable registersuch as 714. A register may be used to implement synchronous logiccomputations in the logic cell. A register may be by-passed to implementasynchronous logic in a logic cell. A register may be used to store aninput or an output within the logic cell, or external to the logic cell.The register may be latch, a flip-flop or any other storage device usedin electronic circuits. One or more global signals may interact with thestorage device. Such signals may be one or more of clock, set, resetsignals. These registers may offer configurable means of locallyinverting signals. In the enclosed-by-reference disclosures,configurable storage devices are shown to have alterable responsesequences such as S/R or J/K or D. Thus the register 714 may beconfigurable to a user desired state. The inputs to the register and theoutputs of the register may be configured as desirable. The logic cellmay include a plurality of registers.

A programmable logic cell in FIG. 7B may include a programmable outputMUX such as 717 and 718. The output MUX may be constructed a singlestage or multiple stage MUXs. A first level of MUXs may provideprogrammable interconnects to couple to logic cell inputs. A secondstage of MUXs may provide a logic cell output to couple to a bufferedLUT output by a programmable means. Thus there exists a complexhierarchy of programmable selection for a given wire to couple to abuffered output of a LUT logic circuit. The programmability is stored inconfiguration memory, located above the geometry of FIG. 7B. Theprogrammable MUX is configured by an output of a configuration memorycell. In a preferred embodiment, the memory cell is an SRAM memory cell.Thus a plurality of SRAM memory cells generate a plurality of outputs,each output coupled to one or more MUX transistor gates to program theoutput MUXs 717 and 718. The programmable elements are arranged randomlywithin the logic cell. The output MUXs may be arranged in a specificconfiguration to maximize the connectivity of outputs to interconnectwires above the logic cell. A MUX element is a switch. It provides aconnect state and a disconnect state. In a connect state, the MUXcouples a first node to a second node. In a disconnect state, the MUXdecouples a first node from a second node. Thus reasonable coupling anddecoupling is required to separate a connect state from a disconnectstate. In an FPGA, the memory output is required to provide thisdistinction; such a distinction is not typically required by memorycells in memory applications.

A programmable logic cell in FIG. 7B may include a programmable routingcircuit such as 713. The routing circuit may be constructed as a singlestage or multiple stage MUXs. The routing circuit may include abuffering structure to buffer signals. A routing circuit may facilitatea first wire segment to couple to a second wire segment by aprogrammable means. Thus an advanced programmable wire network may becreated by one or more routing circuits in a plurality of logic cells.Some wires may terminate at a routing circuit. A terminating wire maycouple to one or more other wires at a routing circuit. Some wires maypass-through at a routing circuit. A pass-through wire may couple to oneor more other wires at a routing circuit. A routing circuit may includea first level of MUXs. The first level of MUXs may provide aprogrammable means of coupling a plurality of wires to a buffer input.The routing circuit may include a second level of MUXs. The second levelof MUXs may provide a programmable means of coupling a buffer output toa plurality of wires. A bi-directional wire connection may be providedin a routing circuit. The routing circuit may include a cross-barcircuit. The enclosed-by-reference disclosures further detail one ormore embodiments of routing circuits that may be used in the 3D FPGA.There exists a complex hierarchy of programmable selection for a givenfirst wire to couple to a second wire such that a routing tool canefficiently route signals in an FPGA interconnect fabric. Theprogrammability is stored in configuration memory, located above thegeometry of FIG. 7B. The programmable routing circuit is configured byan output of a configuration memory cell coupled to the routing circuit.In a preferred embodiment, the memory cell is a TFT SRAM memory cell.Thus a plurality of SRAM memory cells generate a plurality of outputs,each output coupled to one or more MUX transistor gates to program therouting circuit 713. The programmable elements of routing circuit 713are arranged randomly within the logic cell. The routing circuits may bearranged in a specific configuration to maximize the wire connectivitybetween logic cells.

A programmable logic cell in FIG. 7B may be configured by aconfiguration memory array as shown in FIG. 7C. The memory arrayincludes a memory cell 721. The memory cell is replicated in an array toconstruct the contiguous memory array. Each memory cell has a firstdimension in a first direction and a second dimension in a seconddirection orthogonal to the first direction. The memory array mayinclude M-rows and N-columns, M and N integers greater than or equal toone. Thus the memory array includes M×N memory cells. The memory arrayis positioned above the logic cell shown in FIG. 7B. The memory arrayand logic cell may include substantially similar dimensions. Thus thelogic cell may be viewed as having an array of unit cells, each unitcell having the dimensions of a memory cell. Each memory cell mayinclude one or more memory elements. In one embodiment, the memory cellis an SRAM cell. In a preferred embodiment, the memory cell is an 8transistor SRAM cell as shown in FIG. 7D. In FIG. 7D, the memory cellincludes two inverters such as 731 to form a latch. It includes accesstransistors such as 732 to change data stored in the latch. In a globalreset mode, all bits in an array are coupled to the Vss line via accesstransistor 732 to set all bits to a specific state—henceforth termed onestate of the latch. A decoded mode is used to write a data state zero tothe latch via access transistor 731. A row of data (common to a singlerow line) is configured simultaneously to write data states zero, orleave the data state at one as required. A resistor divide circuitcomposed of transistors such as 733 is used to generate an output signalfrom the latch. The output signal is at voltage VccL level or Vss leveldepending on the data state latched. VccL voltage level may be differentfrom VccT for the TFT SRAM latch. The data state one outputs a voltageVccL, while the data state zero outputs voltage Vss. Theenclosed-by-reference disclosures provide detailed configurationcircuits for 3D programmable devices. In FIG. 7C, a single memory cellis efficiently replicated to construct the array. The memory cell may beplaced inside a unit cell. The unit cell may include a single memorycell, or may be larger than a single memory cell. The unit cell may bereplicated to form the configuration memory array, each unit cell havinga memory cell placed inside the unit cell. Thus the entire unit cellarea or a portion of the unit cell area maybe occupied by theconfiguration memory cell. Unlike in a 2D arrangement, the memory outputwires couple (and route) vertically to programmable elements underneath.As a result, there are different metal density restrictions compared tothe 2D arrangement. For example, vertical wires do not have lateraldensity restrictions as in a 2D arrangement. However, vertical wiresrestrict how other routing wires are positioned compared to a 2Darrangement. As disclosed herein, in the preferred embodiment, an exactlayout area of memory cells (to that of the logic cell layout areaunderneath) positioned vertically above the logic cell is seen toprovide an optimal construction of the PLD device. Furthermore asdisclosed herein, the number of memory bits in the memory array isoptimized to match (exactly or nearly exactly) with the total number ofindependently programmable elements in the logic cell. Thus, aprogrammable logic cell according to the current teaching hassubstantially identical layout geometry for the randomly positionedprogrammable elements as the repeating array of memory cells positionedabove logic cell. In other embodiments, these layout areas may besubstantially similar and not exact.

Thus according to current teachings, a novel 3D FPGA includes: aprogrammable logic block (FIG. 7B) having a plurality of configurableelements (in circuits 711-718) randomly positioned within the logicblock; and a first array of configuration memory cells (FIG. 7C) havinga configuration memory cell 721 replicated to construct the first array,the memory cell coupled to one or more of said configurable elements, aplurality of memory cells in the first array coupled to the plurality ofconfigurable elements in logic block to program the logic block to auser specification; wherein, the first array (FIG. 7C) and theprogrammable logic block (FIG. 7B) have a substantially similar layoutgeometry and the first array is positioned substantially over the logicblock.

It is easily appreciated that such a programmable logic cell and theconfiguration memory array above the logic cell may be replicated toform a programmable logic array. The individual memory arrays of eachlogic cell merge with others to form one contiguous larger efficientmemory array. The logic cells further group to generate a largerprogrammable logic area comprising randomly distributed programmableelements. Thus according to current teachings, a novel 3D FPGA furtherincludes: a plurality of programmable logic cells (FIG. 7B), each of thelogic cells having a randomly distributed plurality of programmableelements (in circuits 711-718), the plurality of logic cells configuredby a contiguous array of configuration memory cells (each cell such asin FIG. 7D), wherein: the array of memory cells includes a substantiallysimilar layout geometry as the plurality of programmable logic cells;and the array of memory cells is positioned over the plurality ofprogrammable logic cells, a plurality of memory cells in the arraycoupled to the programmable elements to program the plurality of logiccells to a user specification. Thus a 3D FPGA is easier to construct byduplicating an efficiently constructed very small single programmablelogic cell.

In one embodiment of the 3D construction, the array of memory cells inFIG. 7C is positioned over the plurality of programmable elements inlogic cell of FIG. 7B. In a preferred embodiment, a plurality of metallayers is positioned between the logic elements and memory cells. Suchan arrangement requires special construction of the metal layerspositioned between the two circuit blocks.

One embodiment of a metal construction to vertically coupleconfiguration memory to programmable elements is shown in FIG. 8. InFIG. 8, a metal stub such as 801 is provided to couple one output of amemory cell such as in FIG. 7D (cell 721 in the array of memory cells inFIG. 7C) to one or more programmable elements in FIG. 7B configured bythat single bit. The metal stub 801 is replicated in an array fashion. Avery small metal unit cell 803 may be constructed having a dimension 805in a first direction and a dimension 804 in a second directionorthogonal to the first direction. These dimensions are made to matchwith the memory array dimensions of configuration memory cellspositioned above the coupling metal layer. Region 803 shows such a metalunit cell wherein a metal stub is positioned in a first region and acontinuous metal line is positioned in a second region. The metal linespans the unit cells such that when a metal array is constructed, itforms a continuous global metal line. In a first embodiment, a metalline such as 802 is positioned between two adjacent stubs in the seconddirection as shown in FIG. 8. In a second embodiment, a metal line suchas 802 is positioned between two adjacent stubs in the first direction,as if FIG. 8 is rotated 90 degrees clockwise. A metal line may be usedas a power bus, a ground bus, a clock signal or any other global controlsignal line. Thus, a metal coupling layer (shown in FIG. 8) to coupleoutputs of an array of memory cells (shown in FIG. 7C) to programmableelements of a programmable logic cell (shown in FIG. 7B) in a 3DProgrammable Logic Device (PLD), includes: a plurality of metal stubs803 arranged in an array having a first dimension 805 in a firstdirection and a second dimension 804 in a second direction, said firstand second dimensions identical to the dimensions of the memory cell inthe memory cell array, wherein a metal bus is positioned between twoadjacent stubs in the first or second direction. Such a metal layerprovides efficient coupling of memory arrays in a 3D FPGA to underlyinglogic, and provides adequate metal for power, ground and global signalrouting required in 3D constructions.

FIG. 8B shows an adaptation of a metal pattern to be generated by CADsoftware. In this, no human intervention is needed to define the metalpattern. In FIG. 8B, a first group of metal lines 810 have fixedpredetermined positions, and are capable of coupling to a first voltage.The first voltage may be power or ground or any other voltage. A secondgroup of metal lines 811 are capable of coupling to a second voltage.The second voltage may be power or ground or any other voltage. It has aset of fixed metal tabs 820 at predetermined positions. These fixedmetal lines and tabs are common, and always present on any metalpattern. FIG. 8B has two sets of selectable metal patterns atpredetermined positions. A first set of selectable metal tabs 830 atpredetermined positions has each metal tab coupling a said fixed metaltab 820 to a first group metal line 810. A second set of selectablemetal tabs 840 at predetermined positions has each metal tab coupling asaid fixed metal tab 820 to a said second group metal line 811. As thesemetal tabs have predetermined positions, selecting which tabs to keepand which tabs not to keep provides a means of coupling a fixed metaltab 820 to either a first voltage line 810 or a second voltage line 811.Thus a first subset of metal tabs is selected from the first set 830,and a second subset of metal tabs is selected from the second set 840.These first and second subsets are selected by a CAD software algorithm.First it reads a binary data set where each data point in the set isuniquely matched to a fixed metal tab 820. If there are N data points,then there are N fixed metal tabs 820. The order of data in thedata-string can be matched 1:1 to corresponding fixed metal tabs by alook-up-table arrangement. A first 830 or second 840 set metal tab isselected based on a first (say logic zero) or second (say logic one)data value respectively. When 810 is ground, metal tab 830 couples fixedtab 820 to ground. When 811 is Vcc, metal tab 840 couples fixed tab 820to Vcc. Thus a metal pattern is fully defined by simply selectingselectable metal tabs 830 & 830 according to a binary data file—alsoknown as bit-stream. This bit-stream is further generated by a softwareprogram of a programmable logic device by place and route of a userdesign. The CAD generation of the metal pattern avoids human error,involves no physical time, secure, and preserves confidentiality ofdesign. It is fully automated.

A cross sectional view of a first embodiment of the 3D FPGA according tocurrent teachings is shown in FIG. 9A. In that, metal stubs 902, 904,906 provide the coupling between memory array above and programmableelements below. Metal lines 903, 905, 907 are positioned betweenadjacent stubs. A plurality of memory cells 916 is positioned above thecoupling metal layer. An output 915 of memory cell 916 is coupled to ametal stub 902, which is further coupled to one or more programmableelements below not shown in the cross sectional view. The couplingbetween memory cell 916 and metal stub 902 includes a via 915. Inbetween metal stubs 902 and 904, a long metal line 903 runningperpendicular to the view is used for power, ground or global controlsignals. In other embodiments, a plurality of parallel global controlmetal lines may be positioned between two adjacent metal stubs. A memorycell 916 may include a plurality of memory elements. It may include aplurality of transistors, specifically a plurality ofthin-film-transistors. It may include one or more configurable elementscapable of providing a logic input to the metal stub 902.Incorporated-by-reference disclosures describe thin-film transistors,invertors and memory cells suitable for 3D SRAM constructions. Thememory cells 916 may include RAM or ROM memory elements. A RAM memorycell 916 may further include additional metal lines such as 917 to fullyconstruct a memory array. A metal line 917 may be positioned above apower and ground metal layer comprising 901-908 shown in FIG. 9A. Metalregions 901 and 908 may be used as pad regions for the 3D FPGA. A padregion such as 901 shown may require bonding to other IC devices whenconstructing systems with multiple chips. In one embodiment, the padregion 901 & 913 may be void of memory elements positioned above the padregions. In yet another embodiment, a metal region 913 may be positionedsimilar to metal region 917 above memory cell 916 and coupled to padregion 901. Such a metal region 913 may form a re-distributed-padregion. The re-distributed-pad region may be coupled to a specificpad-region 901 by the distribution metal layer. In a preferredembodiment, the memory cells 916 form a regular memory array above themetal stub array 903/905/907 forming an easy to couple coupling scheme.The metal stubs 903/905/907 may further couple to underlyingprogrammable elements through a system of vertical and horizontalconnecting wires. In the described construction, each couplingterminates at a high impedance node in the programmable logic circuit,and the wire capacitance acts to stabilize the control voltage on theconfigured node.

A cross sectional view of a second embodiment of the 3D FPGA accordingto current teachings is shown in FIG. 9B. In that, a RAM element (inFIG. 9A) is replaced by a ROM element. In the embodiment, a ROM elementis simply a metal connection—connected to a power supply or a groundsupply. A ROM element may be a RAM element hard-wired to always store aspecific data value (it is easily seen that the two sides of a latch canbe shorted to power supply and ground supply such that the latch alwaysretains a specific data value). In FIG. 9B, metal lines 942, 944 carrypower, while metal lines 943, 945 carry ground. Metal stub 932 may becoupled to power (metal line 942) or ground (metal line 943). Metal stub934 may be similarly coupled to power (metal line 944) or ground (metalline 943). Thus a customized metal pattern provides the configurationfor programmable elements below. A separate metal layer as shown in FIG.9B comprising wires 942-945 offers the capability of providing differentpower voltage to stubs 932, 934 compared to power voltage of underlyinglogic. If the same power and ground voltages suffice, no extra metallayer such as 942-945 is needed; instead power and ground voltages inmetal lines 933, 935 are used to power the stubs to required voltagelevel. Thus metal stubs 932, 934 may be customized to obtain apre-determined data values to program programmable elements below. Inbetween metal stubs 932 and 934, a long metal line 933 runningperpendicular to the view is used for power, ground or global controlsignals. In other embodiments, a plurality of parallel global metallines may be positioned between two adjacent metal stubs.Incorporated-by-reference disclosures describe converting RAM based PLDdevices to ROM based PLD devices, both preserving a timingcharacteristic, or achieving a higher performance conversion, orachieving a lower power conversion. Metal regions 941 and 946 may beused as pad regions for the 3D FPGA. A pad region as shown may requirebonding to other IC devices when constructing systems having multiplechips. In one embodiment, the pad region 941 & 946 may be positionedalong the perimeter of the PLD. In another embodiment, the pad regionsmay be positioned in a grid over the top surface of the PLD. Are-distribution metal layer may be used to couple perimeter pad-regions(such as 931) to re-distributed pad regions (such as 940) above themetal stubs regions 932. The metal stubs 932/934 may further couple tounderlying programmable elements through a system of vertical andhorizontal connecting wires. In the described construction, eachcoupling may terminate at a high impedance node in the logic circuit,and the wire capacitance may act to stabilize the control voltage onsuch capacitive configurable nodes. Another advantage in the currentteaching is that no switching signals traverse the vertically configuredwire segment and the configuration wire segments can absorb as manydetours as necessary to maintain signal integrity of timing criticalwires in the FPGA.

FIG. 10A shows a preferred embodiment of constructing programmableelements, programmable interconnects and vertically connectedconfiguration memory. Transistors are used in module layer 1001 toconstruct circuits. Such circuits include AND, NAND, OR type logiccircuits, inverters, buffers, drivers type signal restoration circuits,latches, flip-flops, memory type storage circuits, MUXs, switches,cross-bars type connectivity circuits, LUTs, ALUs, DSP, CPU type ofcomputation circuits, PLL, DLL, AtoD, DtoA type analog circuits and IPblocks. Thus module layer 1001 includes programmable andnon-programmable circuit components that are found in typical integratedcircuits. Module layer 1001 may include one or more metal layers toprovide some level of interconnect among the transistors. Module layer1001 may include one or more configurable elements, and/or one or morecomponents that form a part of configuration circuits required toconfigure one or more configurable elements within module layer 1001. Aplurality of metal interconnects in module layers such as 1002, 1003 and1004 are provided to interconnect circuit blocks within module layer1001. In a preferred embodiment, a majority of interconnect wires inmodule layer 1002 traverses a first direction. A majority ofinterconnect wires in module layer 1003 traverses a second directionorthogonal to said first direction. A majority of interconnect wires inmodule layer 1004 traverses the first direction. Similarly a pluralityof metal module layers is vertically arranged to provide enhancedrouting between circuit nodes in module layer 1001. Such interconnectwires, though present, are not shown in FIG. 9A. A module layer 1005includes a plurality of configuration memory cells such as 916 in FIG.9A. (The metal stub layer 901-908 in FIG. 9A is not shown in FIG. 10A).A configuration memory cell may include a unit cell area 1006. The unitcell 1006 is replicated in a contiguous array to construct the modulelayer 1005. Each cell in module layer 1005 is coupled to one or moreprogrammable elements in module layer 1001—this coupling is not shown inFIG. 10A. To facilitate the coupling, novel metal layout styles areneeded, which are discussed next.

A metal module layer such as 1002 includes a plurality of repeatingregions. Within a region, a first portion includes substantially longmetal lines. The long metal line may span the entire length, or most ofthe length in either said first r second direction. Within the repeatingregion, a second portion includes substantially short metal lines. Theshort metal lines may span the length of a unit cell 1006, a few unitcells 1006, or a fraction of a unit cell. These wires may traverse inthe first and second direction as needed. These short wires facilitatevertical interconnection of configuration memory cells to underlyingprogrammable elements. Thus it should be noted that the cell 1006vertically couples to a short wire in metal module layer 1004, thencouples to a short metal wire in module layer 1003, so on and so forthuntil it couples to the programmable logic elements in module layer1001. Furthermore, these short wires facilitate coupling of long wiresto switch elements in module layer 1001. For example, if a long wire inmodule layer 1003 has to couple to a long wire in module layer 1002, itmust first traverse to a first node of a switch in module layer 1001,and a second node of the switch must traverse back. This wire path maycarry switching signals critical to the design. The shown arrangementallows a wire to go literally vertically down through the short wireregion to minimize timing delays associated with longer routingexcursions of 2D FPGAs.

A second aspect of the novel chip construction is disclosed next. Withinthe 3D structure shown in FIG. 10A, a smaller vertical column comprisinga unit cell area such as 1006 is specially crafted in every module layer(such as 1002 through 1004) to include vertically aligned structures. Asingle unit cell 1006 from the upper most configuration module layer1005 to lower most logic transistor module layer 1001 is shown in FIG.10B to illustrate this novel 3D construction in more detail. The topconfiguration memory module layer 1017 (similar to 912 in FIG. 9A) nowincludes a single memory cell. It may be a 4 T or 6 T or 8 T SRAM cell,or any other memory element. In FIG. 10B, the 8 T-SRAM cell of FIG. 7Cand FIG. 7D is shown for illustrative purposes. The metal layer 1016(same as 901-908 in FIG. 9A, which is not shown in FIG. 10A) includesmetal stubs 902, 904 as shown in FIG. 9A. The metal stub in module layer1016 is coupled to SRAM cell output in module layer 1017 (coupling notshown). The metal line in module layer 1016 spans the entire length suchthat repeating cells form a long metal line. In other embodiments, aplurality of longer parallel metal lines may be constructed in modulelayer 1016. Another module layer similar to module layer 1016 but havingmetal running in a direction orthogonal to metal in module 1016 ispositioned below module 1016. For convenience, that module layer is notshown in FIG. 10B. The wires in module layer 1015 are arranged toinclude a first region and a second region. In the first region, aplurality of wires run full length of the unit cell parallel to eachother. These wires form long wires when the cells are repeated in anarray. In the second region, a plurality of wires run partial celldistances. These wires are used for local interconnect, and may run asneeded in no particular preselected direction. Similarly unit cells inmodule layers 1014 through 1012 have similar wire arrangements. In apreferred embodiment, the long wires in vertically adjacent modulelayers are arranged orthogonal to each other. In other embodiments, afirst two consecutive module layers may have parallel longinterconnects, while a second two consecutive module layers may haveparallel long interconnects orthogonal to said first two consecutivemodule layers. Metal layers below module layer 1012 are not shown inFIG. 10B and may be imagined as if included in module layer 1011. Inmodule layer 1011, within the unit one or more transistors are located.This is a non-repeating geometry. A plurality of unit cell geometries(such as 1011) containing non identical elements form the complete logicblock that occupies module layer 1001 in FIG. 10A. Thus a repeatingmetal and configuration cells fully couple and configure a system ofrandomly positioned programmable elements in module 1011 and module 1001in FIG. 10.

Thus a vertically configured programmable logic device (PLD) in FIG. 10Aincludes: a unit cell 1006 wherein the unit cell boundary includes afirst dimension in a first direction (such as 805 in FIG. 8) and asecond dimension in a second direction (such as 804 in FIG. 8)orthogonal to said first direction; and an array of configuration memorycells 1005, the array constructed by placing a memory cell within theunit cell 1006 boundary and replicating the unit cell to form the memoryarray; and a plurality of programmable elements randomly positioned in ageometry 1001 substantially similar to the geometry of the configurationmemory cell array 1005; and an array of first metal cells 1004, thearray constructed by replicating a first metal cell of said unit cell1006 dimensions in an array, the first metal cell further comprising: afirst region with one or more parallel metal bus lines (such as 802inside unit cell 803 in FIG. 8), a bus line extending between oppositecell boundaries in the first or second direction to form a global buswire; and a second region with a metal stub (such as 801 inside unitcell 803 in FIG. 8) coupled to a configuration memory cell positionedabove the first metal stub and one or more of said programmable elementspositioned below the first metal stub.

The device of FIG. 10A, further includes: an array of second metal cells1003, the array constructed by replicating a second metal cell of saidunit cell 1006 dimensions in an array, the second metal cell furthercomprising: a first region with two or more parallel metal lines, ametal line extending between opposite cell boundaries in the first orsecond direction to form global routing wires; and a second region withmetal stubs and metal lines to facilitate vertical routing ofconfiguration memory cells and signals. The vertically positioned unitcell is shown in FIG. 10B.

The unit cell in FIG. 10B includes: a substrate region 1011 comprising aportion of circuit blocks having programmable elements; and aconfiguration memory cell 1017 coupled to one or more of theprogrammable elements, wherein: the memory cell is positionedsubstantially over the substrate region; and the memory cell andsubstrate region geometries are substantially similar. The unit cellfurther includes: a metal cell 1016 having the configuration memory cell1017 dimensions and a metal stub coupled to the configuration memorycell 1017 and to one or more of said programmable elements, wherein: themetal cell is positioned below the memory cell and above the substrateregion; and the metal cell further includes one or more metal linesadjacent to the metal stub.

To construct larger programmable logic tiles, the structure of FIG. 10Ais further repeated in an array fashion. Thus every programming need ofthe region 1001 must be satisfied by the configuration cell density inmodule layer 1005. Now efficiently positioned arrays of memory cells caneffectively configure randomly positioned programmable elements in thevertically coupling configuration scheme. When structure in FIG. 10A isrepeated in an array fashion, larger efficiently positioned memory cellarrays are generated, such arrays efficiently programming higherdensities of programmable elements in the lower fabric.

Prior art FPGA products disclosed in IDS references typically combinesprogrammable logic blocks with IP cores. Each FPGA vendor positions theIP blocks in a preferred position within the programmable logic fabricand couple IP & logic both to the interconnect matrix. Such IPintegration in the novel 3D products is disclosed next. FIG. 11A shows afirst programmable logic tile 1101, a second programmable logic tile1103 and an IP block 1102 positioned between said two programmable logictiles. The programmable logic tile 1101 may include a plurality ofprogrammable logic units 1101 a, the programmable unit comprisingprogrammable elements with programmable logic elements and programmablerouting elements. In a preferred embodiment, the tile 1101 isconstructed by replicating a unit logic cell 1101 a in an array. WhileFIG. 11A shows a 3×3 array for illustrative purposes, the tile may havefewer or greater number of unit logic cells. The IP block 1102 includesthree regions: a first region 1102 adjacent to tile 1101, a secondcenter region 1102 b, and a third region 1102 c adjacent to tile 1103.The IP block is further constructed such that region 1102 b issubstantially void of any programmable elements. As an example, if IPblock 1102 is a dual-port memory block, region 1102 b may include aplurality of dual-port memory bits, the entire region comprising noconfigurable nodes coupling to configuration memory bits. All theconfiguration elements that are required to configure IP block 1102 arearranged in region 1102 a and 1102 c. Thus region 1102 a in IP block1102 includes a plurality of programmable elements, such as logic androuting elements, one or more said elements coupled to a configurationmemory cell. Similarly region 1102 c in IP block 1102 includes aplurality of programmable elements, such as logic and routing elements,one or more said elements coupled to a configuration memory cell. In theexample of dual-port memory IP, such configuration bits may offer thecapability to vary the width and depth of the memory block. Suchconfiguration bits may further offer to combine a plurality of physicalmemory blocks into a single logical memory block. The advantage of suchan arrangement will become clear during the construction ofconfiguration memory to program these programmable elements.

FIG. 11B shows the configuration memory construction to program logicelements in programmable tiles 1101, 1103 and IP block 1102. Theconfiguration memory arrangement has three regions: regions 1111 and1113 comprising configuration memory bits, and region 1112 significantlyvoid of any configuration memory bits. A first portion of memory bits inregion 1111 programs the programmable elements in tile 1101. A secondportion of memory bits in region 1111 programs the programmable elementsin region 1102 a of IP block 1102. The two memory bit portions in region1111 combine to form one contiguous array of cells; a single memory cellshown in 1111 a. This forms a very efficient larger memory cell arraycompared to two separated memory blocks, or random memory. Thus unlikein prior art configuration memory arrangements, the construction of IPblocks in the fashion described, and positioning of a programmable tileadjacent to the IP block allows randomly positioned programmableelements in both of said circuit components to be programmed by a singlecontiguous array of memory elements. It is easily noted that thecontiguous array of memory elements in region 1113 programs allprogrammable elements in IP region 1102 c and programmable tile 1103.

FIG. 11C shows the 3D positioning of the configuration memory planevertically above the programmable tile and IP blocks. The verticalconfiguration with interconnects (such as layers 1012-1015 in FIGS. 10A& 10B) is not shown for simplicity. Such interconnects include via andwire structures that couple a single configuration bit in theconfiguration plane (1111 & 1113) to one or more programmable element inthe silicon plane (1101 & 1102 a, 1102 c, 1103). It is further notedthat the vertical region between 1112 and 1102 b is utilized in theinterconnect layers to positioned wide power and ground buses thatrequire a significant metal area. In a first embodiment vertical regionsbetween 1112 and 1102 b also includes driver circuit components andwiring components required to write and read data to and fromconfiguration memory plane and silicon plane. Thus, the threedimensional programmable logic device (PLD) of FIG. 10C includes: one ormore intellectual property (IP) cores 1102, each IP core comprising: afixed circuit region 1102 b, and a programmable circuit region 1102 ahaving a plurality of programmable elements to configure the IP core;and a programmable logic block array region 1101 comprising: a pluralityof substantially identical programmable logic blocks (such as 1101 a inFIG. 11A) replicated to form the array, each said logic block furthercomprising a plurality of programmable elements; and a programmableregion (region comprised of 1101 and 1102 a) comprising randomlypositioned programmable elements of said programmable logic block arrayregion and one or more of said IP block programmable circuit regions;and a configuration memory array 1111 comprising a configuration memorycell (such as 1111 a in FIG. 11B) replicated to construct the array, amemory cell coupled to one or more of said programmable elements in theprogrammable region, the memory array programming the programmableregion, wherein: the memory array 1111 is positioned substantially abovethe programmable region; and the memory array geometry is substantiallysimilar to the programmable region.

FIG. 12 illustrates the combination of a plurality of programmable tilesand IP blocks to achieve the three dimensional vertical configurationadvantages according to the current teachings. FIG. 12A shows the layoutarrangement of four programmable tiles 1201, 1203, 1207 & 1209, eachcomprising a plurality of programmable logic blocks as shown in FIG. 7B.Thus each of the tiles is similar to tiles 1101 & 1103 shown in FIG.11A. Each of the tiles 1201, 1203, 1207 & 1209 further include aplurality of programmable elements randomly positioned on thesubstantially rectangular geometry of the tile, each said programmableelement constructed on the silicon substrate layer. FIG. 12A furthershows five IP blocks 1202, 1204, 1205, 1206 & 1208. The substantiallyrectangular IP blocks comprise geometries matched with the programmabletiles such that when positioned in between the programmable tiles asshown in FIG. 12A, the combined geometries include a substantiallyrectangular geometry as shown. Thus FIG. 12A illustrates a very compactand carefully crafted silicon substrate foot-print that achievessignificantly smaller Si foot-print compared to other methods ofcombining the specified circuit blocks. IP blocks 1202, 1204, 1206 &1208 are similar in construction to IP block 1102 discussed in FIG. 11A.In one example, it may be four similar IP blocks 1102 of identicalfunctionality as shown in FIG. 11A. In another example it may be fourdifferent functional IP blocks, each constructed in the manner describedin FIG. 11A. Each of the IP blocks 1202, 1204, 1206 & 1208 includeprogrammable elements such as programmable logic elements and/orprogrammable routing elements as well as non-programmable circuitcomponents. In IP block 1202, the programmable elements are positionedin region 1202 a and 1202 c, while the non-programmable circuitcomponents are positioned in region 1202 b. IP block 1202 is positionedin-between programmable tiles 1201 and 1203 such that region 1202 a isadjacent to tile 1201, and region 1202 c is adjacent to tile 1203 asshown in FIG. 12A. In FIG. 12A, it can be seen that IP block 1204 ispositioned in-between programmable tiles 1201 and 1207 such that region1204 a is adjacent to tile 1201, and region 1204 c is adjacent to tile1207. In FIG. 12A, it can be seen that IP block 1206 is positionedin-between programmable tiles 1203 and 1209 such that region 1205 a isadjacent to tile 1203, and region 1206 c is adjacent to tile 1209. InFIG. 12A, it can be seen that IP block 1208 is positioned in-betweenprogrammable tiles 1207 and 1209 such that region 1208 a is adjacent totile 1207, and region 1208 c is adjacent to tile 1209. IP block 1205 isconstructed such that it includes programmable elements in the fourcorner regions 1205 a, 1205 c, 1205 d & 1205 e, while having nonprogrammable circuit components in the remaining region 1205 b as shownin FIG. 12A. When IP block 1205 is positioned at the center in FIG. 12A,each of the corner programmable regions combine with neighboringprogrammable regions to form a contiguous larger programmable region.For example, regions 1201, 1202 a, 1205 a and 1204 a form a firstprogrammable quadrant comprising randomly positioned programmableelements within said region. Similarly, regions 1203, 1202 c, 1205 e and1206 a form a second programmable quadrant comprising randomlypositioned programmable elements within said region. Similarly, regions1209, 1206 c, 1205 d and 1208 c form a third programmable quadrantcomprising randomly positioned programmable elements within said region.Finally, regions 1207, 1204 c, 1205 c and 1208 a form a fourthprogrammable quadrant comprising randomly positioned programmableelements within said region. As can be seen in FIG. 12A, nonprogrammable circuit components in regions 1204 b, 1205 b, 1202 b, 1206b & 1208 b combine to form horizontal and vertical tracks in-between thefour programmable quadrants. Thus FIG. 12A represents a Si substrateportion (or a Si substrate region) of a 3D semiconductor devicecomprising programmable tiles and IP blocks. Many such regions may existin the 3D semiconductor device.

Vertically positioned configuration memory elements to programprogrammable elements in FIG. 12A are shown in FIG. 12B. There are fourcontiguous configuration memory arrays 1211, 1213, 1219 and 1217, eachprogramming the programmable elements in said first, second, third andfourth quadrants of FIG. 12A respectively. What is novel in FIG. 12B isin the manner in which configuration memory elements form a contiguousarray 1211 to program programmable elements in a plurality of variedcircuit underneath: programmable elements in tile 1201, programmableelements in IP block regions 1202 a, 1205 a & 1204 a (from threedifferent IP blocks). This allows for very efficient layouts ofcontiguous configuration memory arrays to program underlyingprogrammable elements that are pre-segregated to make the integration ofprogrammable logic tiles with IP blocks encountered in programmablelogic devices feasible. Region 1212 in FIG. 12B is substantially void ofconfiguration memory elements. Such regions are used for wide metaltracks needed for power and ground distributions, as well as circuitcomponents required to write/read data to the vertical configurationmemory layer.

The 3-dimensional construction of FIG. 12A and FIG. 12B is shown in FIG.12C. In that, FIG. 12A forms a first circuit layer at the bottom whileFIG. 12B forms a second circuit layer on top of the first layer. It maybe easily visualized that the layer positions may be reversed. There maybe a plurality of metal layers between said two layers, such layers notshown in FIG. 12C for simplicity. Furthermore it may be easilyvisualized that metal layers may exist above the shown top layer, or nometal layers may exist in between the shown two layers. In a givenquadrant, a configuration memory element is coupled to one or moreprogrammable elements underneath in the same quadrant. The memoryelements contiguously arranged in an array in the first quadrant maycompletely (or near completely) configure all the programmable elementsrandomly distributed in the first quadrant at the bottom layer. Theseprogrammable elements may belong to a combination of circuit blocks suchas programmable logic circuits, IP circuits and I/O circuits. Thus,FIGS. 12 A-C shows a portion of a three dimensional programmable logicdevice (PLD), comprising: a programmable logic block (1204 c, 1205 c,1207 & 1209 a) having a plurality of configurable elements positionedrandomly within the logic block; and a first array of configurationmemory cells 1217 having a configuration memory cell (such as memorycell 1111 a in FIG. 11B) replicated to construct the first array, amemory cell coupled to one or more of said configurable elements, aplurality of memory cells in the first array coupled to the plurality ofconfigurable elements in logic block to program the logic block to auser specification; wherein, the first array 1207 and the programmablelogic block (1204 c, 1205 c, 1207 & 1209 a) have a substantially similarlayout geometry, and the first array is positioned substantially overthe logic block.

FIGS. 13A & B shows a novel 3D PLD. FIG. 13B is an enlarged view of aportion of FIG. 13A to better illustrate the circuit blocks. Forillustrative purposes, only a few components encountered in typical PLDsare shown. FIG. 13 show a plurality of programmable I/O cells such as1305, a plurality of programmable IP block such as 1304, a plurality oflogic blocks such as 1303 a_1 or 1303 a_2 or 1303 a_3. The logic blockmay be a logic unit (1303 a_1) or a logic block (1303 a_2) or a logicarray block (1303 a_3). Thus FIG. 13 is a three dimensional programmablelogic device (PLD), comprising: a plurality of I/O cells 1305, each I/Ocell comprising: a fixed circuit region (1305 a & 1305 b); and aprogrammable circuit region (1305 c) having a plurality of programmableelements to configure the I/O cell (1305); and one or more intellectualproperty (IP) cores 1304, each IP core comprising: a fixed circuitregion (1304 b); and a programmable circuit region (1304 a or 1304 b)having a plurality of programmable elements to configure the IP core;and a programmable logic block array region (1303 a_3) comprising: aplurality of substantially identical programmable logic blocks (1303 a_2or 1303 a_1) replicated to form the array, each said logic block furthercomprising a plurality of programmable elements; and a programmableregion 1303 a comprising randomly positioned programmable elements ofsaid programmable logic block array region 1303 a_3, the one or more ofIP core programmable circuit regions (such as 1304 a, but adjacent to1303 a_3) and the one or more of I/O cell programmable circuit regions(such as 1305 c, but adjacent to 1303 a_3); and a configuration memoryarray 1313 a comprising a configuration memory cell 1313 a_1 replicatedto construct the array, a memory cell coupled to one or more of saidprogrammable elements in the programmable region, the memory array 1313a programming the programmable region 1303 a, wherein: the memory arrayis positioned substantially over the programmable region; and the memoryarray and programmable region geometries are substantially identical.

In one embodiment, a 3D device such as a 3D PLD or 3D FPGA providesshared pins to reduce pin count and thus reduce cost. In otherembodiments, one or more configuration signals are multiplexed withinput/output pins of the 3D device to provide multi-function pins.Typically, the multi-functional pin is coupled to at least one inputbuffer input, and at least one output buffer output. The output of inputbuffer may be coupled to a programmable MUX circuit, while the input tooutput buffer may be coupled to a circuit of the 3D device. One or morebuffers and programmable MUXs may be configurable to achieve a highimpedance state (AKA tri-state). The buffers & MUXs may be configured byconfiguration memory as well as internal and external control signals,the external signals received through other multi-function pins. Thusoutputs of the buffer are coupled in parallel with respective controlsignals, such that each of the shared pins receives both a controlsignal and an output from the buffer. Responsive to a control signal,the outputs of the buffer are disabled (i.e., tri-stated) such thatexternal configuration data (Ex. from a Boot-ROM) is read from theshared pins into one or more configuration memories (Ex. SRAM) on thechip. When the configuration is done, the pin may be coupled to otherinput or output of the 3D chip. In short, configuration signals may bereceived by a 3D chip controller responsive to a control signal (such asRESET) on the same nodes used to communicate with other devices externalto the controller at other times. Consequently, the pin count of acontroller using various configuration signals can be greatly reduced.In yet another embodiment, a multi-function pin is provided to handleboth power and clock input. In this embodiment, a clock signal isembedded to modulate power pin within a predetermined oscillation. Clockinformation is subsequently extracted from the power pin inside the 3Ddevice. In yet another embodiment, a multi-function pin is provided tohandle both power and reset input. Other pin sharing arrangements can bedone as well.

In yet another embodiment, the pin out of the device can be configuredto optimize ground and power distribution to the chip. For example, thedevice can have a large ground or power area at the center of one ormore input/output pins and the pin comprise a configurable means ofcoupling to the said areas.

Fabrication of a 3D IC according to the current teachings is describedin the incorporated-by-reference disclosures. A brief description isprovided here for completeness. Transistors and routing for programmableand fixed circuit elements are formed by utilizing a standard logicprocess flow used in an ASIC fabrication. Extra processing steps usedfor formation of 3D configuration memory elements are inserted into thelogic flow after a specific interconnect layer is constructed. Thefollowing terms used herein are acronyms associated with certainmanufacturing processes. The acronyms and their abbreviations are asfollows:

V_(T) Threshold voltage

LDN Lightly doped NMOS drain

LDP Lightly doped PMOS drain

LDD Lightly doped drain

RTA Rapid thermal annealing

Ni Nickel

Ti Titanium

TiN Titanium-Nitride

W Tungsten

S Source

D Drain

G Gate

ILD Inter layer dielectric

IMD Inter metal dielectric

C1 Contact-1

V1 Via-1

M1 Metal-1

P1 Poly-1

P− Positive light dopant (Boron species, BF₂)

N− Negative light dopant (Phosphorous, Arsenic)

P+ Positive high dopant (Boron species, BF₂)

N+ Negative high dopant (Phosphorous, Arsenic)

Gox Gate oxide

C2 Contact-2

LPCVD Low pressure chemical vapor deposition

CVD Chemical vapor deposition

ONO Oxide-nitride-oxide

LTO Low temperature oxide.

In the IC fabrication industry, a logic process is used to fabricateCMOS devices on a Silicon substrate layer. First, transistors areconstructed on the Silicon substrate, and a plurality of metal layers isused to interconnect the transistors to form desired circuits. Thesecircuits are accessed through pad structures that are coupled toexternal devices. These CMOS devices may be used to build AND gates, ORgates, inverters, LUTs, MUXs, adders, multipliers, IP blocks, memory andpass-gate based logic functions in an integrated circuit. Circuits builtwith logic processes are well known in the IC industry and onlypresented here for illustrative purposes. An exemplary logic process mayinclude one or more of following steps:

P-type substrate starting wafer

Shallow Trench isolation: Trench Etch, Trench Fill and CMP

Sacrificial oxide

PMOS V_(T) mask & implant

NMOS V_(T) mask & implant

Pwell implant mask and implant through field

Nwell implant mask and implant through field

Dopant activation and anneal

Sacrificial oxide etch

Gate oxidation/Dual gate oxide option

Gate poly (GP) deposition

GP mask & etch

LDN mask & implant

LDP mask & implant

Spacer oxide deposition & spacer etch

N+ mask and NMOS N+ G, S, D implant

P+ mask and PMOS P+ G, S, D implant

Ni deposition

RTA anneal—Ni salicidation (S/D/G regions & interconnect)

Unreacted Ni etch

ILD oxide deposition & CMP

Contact C1 masking and etch

Metal M1 deposition, Metal masking and etch

IMD oxide deposition & CMP

Via V1 masking and etch

A plurality of metal and via patterning to form interconnects

Passivation oxide deposition

Pad mask and etch.

Such a logic process forms one layer of transistors on a substrate. Sucha logic process builds a plurality of module layers as defined in thisdisclosure. A first module layer may be a patterned single metal layer.A second module layer may include all the processing steps from thebeginning to including ILD oxide deposition & CMP step. Integratedcircuits constructed with a logic process are defined herein as 2D ICs.A CMOSFET thin-film-transistor (TFT) module layer or a Complementarygated FET (CGated-FET) TFT module layer may be inserted to a logicprocess at various points throughout the logic fabrication process tobuild 3D ICs. In a first embodiment, the TFT process may be added afterC1 processing, prior to M1 processing. In a second embodiment the TFTprocess nay be inserted to logic process after Vn processing prior toM(n+1) processing. In yet another embodiment the TFT process may beinserted after the top metal is deposited. All or some of configurationcircuitry may be built with the TFT transistors above the logictransistors. An exemplary TFT process may include one or more followingsteps:

Contact mask & etch

W-Silicide (or Al) plug fill & CMP

Amorphous P1 (poly-1) deposition

P1 mask & etch

Vtn mask & P− implant (NMOS Vt)

Vtp mask & N− implant (PMOS Vt)

TFT Gox (70 A to 200 A PECVD) deposition

Amorphous P2 (poly-2) deposition

N+ mask & implant (NMOS Gate & interconnect)

P+ mask & implant (PMOS Gate & interconnect)

Hard mask oxide deposition

P2 mask & etch

LDN mask & NMOS S/D N− tip implant

LDP mask & PMOS S/D P− tip implant

Spacer LTO or Plasma Nitride deposition

Spacer LTO etch & clean to form spacers & expose P1 & P2

Ni deposition

RTA salicidation and anneal (G/S/D regions & interconnect)

Excess Ni etch

Dopant activation anneal

ILD oxide deposition & CMP

Contact mask & etch

W plug formation & CMP

Metal deposition & etch.

The TFT process technology consists of creating NMOS & PMOSamorphous-silicon or poly-silicon transistors above single crystal NMOS& PMOS devices. These amorphous Silicon transistors may be annealed byvarious techniques available in the processing industry, such as lasercrystallization, to improve the mobility and transistor characteristicsof TFT. Thus a second layer of transistors may be fabricatedsubstantially above a first layer of transistors to increase thetransistor density available in a unit area of Silicon. In a preferredembodiment, the second layer of TFT transistors may be used to constructan array of memory cells to program randomly positioned programmableelements on a silicon substrate transistor first layer.

As the discussions demonstrate, memory controlled pass transistor logicelements provide a powerful tool to make switches. Such switches arecommonly encountered in PLD and FPGA devices. The high cost ofconfiguration memory can be drastically reduced by the 3-dimensionalintegration of configuration elements and the replaceable modularityconcept for said memory disclosed in current andincorporated-by-reference disclosures. These advances allow design ofhighly economical, more reliable, lower dissipation power, higherperformance, higher level of integration and easily convertible to ASIC,FPGA devices. In one aspect, a cheaper memory element allows use of morememory for programmability. That enhances the ability to build largelogic blocks (i.e. course-grain advantage) while maintaining smallerelement logic fitting (i.e. fine-grain advantage). Furthermore largergrains need less connectivity: neighboring cells and far-away cells.That further simplifies the interconnect structure. Thus betterprogrammable logic and better programmable interconnect is realized with3D programmable architectures.

A 3-dimensional SRAM process integration reduces the cost ofre-programmability for these interconnect structures. Similarly, anyother 3-dimensional memory technology will offer the same costadvantage. Such a 3D technology may be programmable fuse links, wherethe programming is achieved by a laser gun. It could be achieved bymagnetic memory or ferro-electric memory. A method is also shown to mapprogrammable elements to an application specific hard-wire elements,wherein the wire delays are unaffected by the change. The conversionallows a further cost reduction to the user, thus providing analternative technique in designing an ASIC through an original FPGAdevice, and to reach FPGA logic densities approaching ASIC logicdensities.

Although an illustrative embodiment of the present invention, andvarious modifications thereof, have been described in detail herein withreference to the accompanying drawings, it is to be understood that theinvention is not limited to this precise embodiment and the describedmodifications, and that various changes and further modifications may beeffected therein by one skilled in the art without departing from thescope or spirit of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A three dimensional programmable logic device(PLD), comprising: a programmable logic block having a plurality ofconfigurable elements positioned in the logic block in a predeterminedlayout geometry; and a first array of configuration memory cells, onesof said memory cells coupled to one or more of said configurableelements to program said logic block to a user specification, whereinsaid first array conforms substantially to said predetermined layoutgeometry and said first array is positioned substantially above or belowsaid logic block, wherein said memory cells are vertically integratedwith said logic block on a semiconductor chip.
 2. The device of claim 1,further comprising: an input/output (I/O) cell having a first I/O regionwith a plurality of configurable elements positioned therein and asecond I/O region; and a second array of configuration memory cellshaving a plurality of configuration memory cells, ones of said secondarray memory cells coupled to one or more of said configurable elementsin said first I/O region to program the I/O cell to a userspecification, wherein the second array and the first I/O region conformsubstantially to said predetermined layout geometry and said secondarray is positioned substantially above or below said first I/O region.3. The device of claim 2, wherein said first and second memory arraysmerge to form a contiguous array of configuration memory cells, andwherein said contiguous array is substantially non-overlapping with saidsecond I/O region.
 4. The device of claim 1, further comprising: aprogrammable intellectual property (IP) block having a first IP regionwith a plurality of configurable elements positioned within said firstIP region and a second IP region; and a third array of configurationmemory cells having a plurality of configuration memory cells, ones ofsaid third array memory cells coupled to one or more of saidconfigurable elements in said first IP region to program said IP blockto a user specification, wherein said third array and said first IPregion conform substantially to said predetermined layout geometry andsaid third array is positioned substantially above or below said firstIP region.
 5. The device of claim 4, wherein said first and third memoryarrays merge to form a contiguous array of configuration memory cells,and wherein said contiguous array is substantially non-overlapping withsaid second IP region.
 6. The device of claim 5, wherein one or more ofa power bus and a ground bus is positioned over said second IP region.7. The device of claim 1, wherein the memory cell comprises one of agroup consisting essentially of a random access memory (RAM) clement anda read only memory (ROM) element.
 8. The device of claim 7, wherein saidROM element comprises one of a group consisting essentially of a metalwire coupled to a power supply voltage and a metal wire coupled to aground supply voltage.
 9. The device of device of claim 1, wherein saidmemory cell comprises at least one of a group consisting essentially of:an electrical fuse link; a laser-fuse link; an antifuse capacitor; anSRAM cell; a DRAM cell; a metal optional link; an EPROM cell; an EEPROMcell; a Flash cell; a Carbon nano-tube; an Electro-Chemical cell; anElectro-Mechanical cell; a Resistance modulating clement; a Mechanicalmembrane; an Optical cell; an Electro-Magnetic cell; and aFerro-Electric cell.
 10. The device of claim 1, wherein one or more ofinterconnects and routing signals is positioned above or below saidarray of memory cells.
 11. A three dimensional programmable logic device(PLD), comprising: a plurality of I/O cells, ones of said plurality ofI/O cells comprising: a fixed circuit region; and a programmable circuitregion having a plurality of programmable elements to configure acorresponding I/O cell; one or more intellectual property (IP) cores,ones of said IP cores comprising: a fixed circuit region; and aprogrammable circuit region having a plurality of programmable elementsto configure said IP core; a programmable logic block array regioncomprising: a plurality of substantially identical programmable logicblocks replicated to form said array, ones of said plurality of logicblocks further comprising a plurality of programmable elements; aprogrammable region comprising positioned programmable elements of saidprogrammable logic block array region, said one or more of IP coreprogrammable circuit regions and said one or more of I/O cellprogrammable circuit regions; and a configuration memory arraycomprising configuration memory cells coupled to one or more of saidprogrammable elements in said programmable region, the memory arrayprogramming the programmable region, wherein: said memory array ispositioned substantially above or below said programmable region,wherein said memory array is vertically integrated with saidprogrammable region on a semiconductor chip; and said memory array andprogrammable region layout geometries are substantially identical. 12.The device of claim 11, wherein a programmable element of theprogrammable region comprises one of a group consisting essentially of aprogrammable logic element and a programmable routing element.
 13. Thedevice of claim 11, wherein at least one of a power bus and a ground busis positioned over said IP core fixed circuit region.
 14. The device ofclaim 11, wherein said configuration memory cell comprises one of agroup consisting essentially of a random access memory (RAM) and aread-only memory (ROM) element.
 15. A three dimensional programmablelogic device (PLD), comprising: a plurality of distributed programmableelements located in a substrate region; and a contiguous array ofconfiguration memory cells, a plurality of said memory cells coupled tosaid plurality of programmable elements to configure said programmableelements; wherein said memory array is positioned substantially above orbelow said substrate region, and wherein said memory array is verticallyintegrated with said substrate region on a semiconductor chip; andwherein said memory array and said substrate region layout geometriesare substantially similar.
 16. The device of claim 15, furthercomprising a contiguous array of metal cells, ones of said array ofmetal cells having the configuration memory cell dimensions and a metalstub coupled to a corresponding configuration memory cell and to one ormore of said programmable elements.
 17. The device of claim 16, whereintwo or more metal cells further comprises a metal line adjacent to saidmetal stub extending from one end of said cell to the opposite end ofsaid cell, wherein two or more adjacent metal cells form a continuousmetal line.
 18. The device of claim 16, wherein said metal cell array ispositioned below said memory cell and above said substrate region. 19.The device of claim 15, further comprising: a plurality ofmulti-functional I/O pads, ones of said plurality of I/O pads coupled toa first and second buffer, wherein said first and second bufferscomprise one or more of said programmable elements coupled to saidconfiguration memory cells.
 20. The device of claim 19, wherein one ormore of said multi-functional I/O pads further comprises one or more ofgroup consisting essentially of: a power supply pad; a ground supplypad; a clock pad; a device configuration pad; an input pad; and anoutput pad.